Warning, This Program will now terminate
by Osiris-Lee
Summary: A.U. SetoJou story. Seto has a problem. He's been tinkering around with dangerous software and things have become way out of hand. Sent to gaurd Seto until the program's destroyed, Jou reckons this will be an easy job. Too bad things never go as planned.
1. Chapter one

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh. If I did, Seto and Jou would be all over each other, all the time. And I mean, -all- the time. *chuckles*  
  
Warning: AU fic, male/male relationships. Possibly a lime in later chapters if I feel up to it.  
  
Pairings: Seto/Jou, Yami/Yugi. Marik/Malik, Bakura/Ryou  
  
A.N. Wha! Jay's meant to be here helping me with this! In other words, my first fanfic (that I'm uploading) and I would appreciate constructive comments if you care to give them. I -have- got a second chapter, which I think is considerably better then this one, and i might put that up later. Might. For now, just read this bit.  
  
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You know those days where nothing goes right? The days where you fall out of bed, burn your breakfast and then find out you have nothing clean to wear? The days where the first thing you think is 'Uh oh, it's going to be one of those days.' We all have them every once in a while.  
  
'Katsuya! Where the hell are you? Hiroto's made a break for it and we need you down at the bridge pronto. He'd headed in a-'  
  
Yup, it was definitely going to be one of those days.  
  
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The case had gone on longer then anybody expected, or really wanted. Honda Hiroto had only been a minor drug lord, no more then a dealer really, but it turned out he had more initiative then anybody planned on. He had led them all on a fine goose chase around the city before being cornered on a bridge in the north of town. Desperate to escape capture he jumped, plummeting the five hundred meters to the river below. A foolish move, he was killed on impact. Apparently he forgot that the river was notorious for its rocks.  
  
'Brooding again Jou?'  
  
The blond sighed silently before turning around and flashing his tri- coloured friend a goofy grin.  
  
'Ya caught me Yugi,' he ruffled the shorter man's hair affectionately. 'I was just thinking over the case.'  
  
'With good reason.' Ryou Bakura commented, making his way over to the large tinted window where the others stood. 'This case opened up several questions about how our system works. That someone like Hiroto was able to hide for so long.' He shook his head slightly, his silver-white hair bouncing around his shoulders. 'That shouldn't have been allowed to happen.' 'Neither should so many people have had to die.' whispered Yugi.  
  
'Yugi, it couldn't have been helped.' Jou smiled sadly. 'Anzu made that choice, not you.' Anzu, Honda's woman, had been a close companion of Yugi's. She had been a friend of Yugi's family for years before she met Honda. Things had gone down from there.  
  
'He has a point Yugi.' Ryou gave his friend a comforting hug. 'You didn't ask her to jump in front of the gun.'  
  
Yugi gave them both a weak smile, before shrugging Ryou off and sitting back down at the table. Jou was about to go after him when the door at the far end of the room opened and a man who could have passed for Yugi's slightly taller twin strode confidently into the room, leaving the door to slam carelessly behind him.  
  
'Alright everybody.' He dropped a cream manila folder onto the table as everyone else took their seats. 'I know our last job was slightly botched-'  
  
'Botched would be an understatement Yami.' Ryou said softly. 'More like royally screwed if you ask me.' A new voice put in. A tanned man in his early twenties was leaning against the doorframe, peering out from under his blond bangs to give Yami a challenging look.  
  
'You're late Malik.' Said Yami, irritably.  
  
'Traffic.' Malik shrugged, as if that was all the explanation needed before sauntering into the room, swinging his chair backwards and plonking down on it next to Jou. Yami growled softly, before continuing.  
  
'As I was saying, our last mission was slightly botched, but no matter. We still managed to bring Hiroto down, so technically it was a success.'  
  
'Success?' Yugi repeated, his voice devoid of all emotion.  
  
'Yes Yugi.' Yami said cheerfully, not picking up his mirror image's mood.  
  
'Success?' Yugi repeated a little louder, before narrowing his amethyst eyes in a glare at Yami. 'How could you possibly call it a success?' he said softly, coldly.  
  
'We brought him down Yugi.' Yami said, trying to calm the younger man. 'He can't hurt anyone anymore.'  
  
'But what about the others?' Yugi yelled, taking everybody aback. Yugi hardly ever yelled. 'What about all the innocent people who we had to bring down with him?' Tears were starting to spill down Yugi's childlike face, making him seem even younger. Yami quickly moved around the table to where the younger man sat, picking him up easily and sitting him down on his lap.  
  
'Hush Yugi.' He murmured into his lover's hair. 'You know that's not what I meant.'  
  
'Well this is all fine for us to say,' Malik grumbled. 'But what are we going to tell the victims' families? How're we going to explain to them what happened?'  
  
'How about the truth?' Jou said, breaking his brooding for a moment.  
  
'You can't be serious.'  
  
'I'm perfectly serious Malik.' Jou sighed, running a hand through his messy hair before resting his head in his hands. 'There's no point really in lying, they're bound to find out eventually what really happened.'  
  
'He's right Malik.' Ryou cut in before Malik could resort. 'I think they would be angrier at us for lying to them then they would be for hearing the truth.'  
  
'It's already been taken care of.'  
  
All eyes returned to Yami, who was still cradling Yugi in his arms. 'I've taken care of the funeral money and explanations already.' He set Yugi back on his chair before retrieving his own.  
  
'Then why the meeting?' huffed Malik. 'I have better things to be doing at this time of night, take sleeping for example.'  
  
'No rest for the wicked Malik, we have a new case.'  
  
'Already?' Ryou spoke up, 'Isn't it a little soon?'  
  
'Usually it would be.' Yami opened the manila folder and skimmed a few of the sheets. 'But these orders come from high places, and what we're being offered isn't anything to sneeze at either.'  
  
Malik sneezed. 'So what do we have to do?' inquired Yugi, ignoring Malik's over enthused display of blowing his nose. Yami made a face of disgust, before pushing the folder over to Yugi.  
  
'Guards?' Jou, who had been reading over Yugi's shoulder, exclaimed in distaste. 'We're being lowered to mindless bodyguard jobs?'  
  
Yami cleared his thought, silencing the sounds of outrage about to spill from both Jou and Malik.  
  
'You didn't read the rest of the file Jou. We've been ordered to guard a wealthy computer programmer and businessman, one Seto Kaiba.  
  
'Who?' Malik interrupted.  
  
'I've heard of him.' offered Ryou. 'He's the CEO of Kaiba corp. You know, the company that makes the virtual reality Duel Monster games.'  
  
'Turns out those games aren't the only thing he programs.' said Yami, successfully drawing attention back to himself. 'Turns out he's been tinkering with some dangerous software, software the government wants destroyed and quickly. We haven't been given the details, just the orders to guard him and his house until the programs are terminated.'  
  
Jou looked puzzled. 'Shouldn't that take only a few minutes?'  
  
'Apparently not.' retorted Malik, rubbing his hands together in glee. 'It would have already been done if it was as simple as that, must be some pretty complex programming.'  
  
'Don't get any idea's about tinkering, Malik. You aren't coming.'  
  
'What?'  
  
'We only need four of us to go.' explained Yami. 'Malik, you and Marik will be staying here in case we need backup.'  
  
'S'pose this means I won't get paid either.' Malik grumbled, fiddling with his earring. 'You'll get paid the amount of a backup, and the full amount if we call you in.' Yami reassured him.  
  
'Yeah, whatever.' Malik stood, stretching. 'Sounds like a bit of a boring case to me. Most excitement you'll probably get is arse cramp. Now if you were going somewhere exotic, take France for example, then I might be ticked off.'  
  
'Don't be so bitter Malik.' laughed Yugi, throwing a paper ball at the Egyptian. 'You and Marik will have a great time.'  
  
Malik grinned wickedly. 'Oh yeah, we'll have fun, in more ways then one.' He sniggered at Yugi's blush.  
  
'Yami?' Ryou was flicking through the folder again. 'This is all well and good, but where exactly does Kaiba live?'  
  
Yami grinned, shooting a triumphant look at Malik.  
  
'In France.'  
  
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'Flight 1362 to Paris, France is boarding now at gate four. Would all passengers travelling on flight 1362 to Paris, France please go to gate four immediately.'  
  
Jou winced slightly, rubbing his ears. For some reason those overhead speakers always made his eardrums sting. The same thing happened when more then three electrical appliances were on in the same room. For this reason Jou had tried to keep as few as possible in his house, often earning him the comment that he wasn't a very 'high tech' person. Jou preferred to keep it that way. No point having gadgets everywhere if they only made him uncomfortable. 'Jou! Wait up!'  
  
Jou stopped in the middle of the corridor, causing a middle aged woman with far too much perfume on to crash straight into him.  
  
'Would you watch where you're going?' she snapped, showing unnaturally white teeth.  
  
'Erm, sorry ma'am.' Jou muttered, moving to one side. Scowling slightly he turned to the cause of the problem, Marik. Marik was standing beside him, looking as if he owned the place and wearing an outfit Jou was positive Malik had been wearing yesterday. Not that it would have made much difference, they shared everything from their looks to a bed.  
  
'Marik, how the hell did you get past the metal detectors?' Jou eyed Marik's many belts, buckles and the strange gold dagger that he always kept strapped to his waist.  
  
'You really don't want to know, and I don't have time to tell you.' Marik said, grinning psychotically. 'I'm just delivering your mail.'  
  
'Mail?' Now Jou was really beginning to worry. 'Marik I don't have time for this.'  
  
'I know.' Marik suddenly thrust a floppy disk into Jou's hand. 'So I won't mess about this time. This is what Malik and I looked up about Kaiba last night, Malik asked me to get it to you.' He looked up, suddenly smirking. 'Hope ya have a good time Katsuya, send me a postcard!' With that he sprinted off, upsetting a duty free stall along the way. Jou stood there, still staring at the spot Marik had been.  
  
'I wish he wouldn't do that.' Jou muttered, before shoving the disk into his jumper pocket and entering the gate lounge.  
  
'Jou!' As soon had Jou set foot in the lounge he was attacked by a little tri-coloured ball of energy, also known as Yugi Motou.  
  
'Heya Yugi. Morning Yami, Ryou.' Jou managed to gasp out while trying to pry Yugi off his waist. 'Man, who fed him sugar?'  
  
'Jou, you're late.'  
  
'Yeah Yami I know. Jeez, what is it with you and punctuality anyway?' Jou managed to free himself from the aforementioned tri-coloured ball and flopped down onto a lounge sofa. 'I was just talking to Marik.'  
  
'Marik?' Ryou frowned, thinking. 'How on earth did he get-'  
  
'Through the metal detectors? I don't think we want to know.' Jou relaxed into the sofa, only to open his eyes and find Yami staring at him. 'What?'  
  
'I just want to know why Marik was here Jou.'  
  
'Well,' he hesitated, fingering the floppy disk in his pocket. 'He.he just came to say see ya from him and Malik. Said he couldn't find you guys and for me to pass the message on.' Yami stared at him for a moment more before relaxing, apparently buying Jou's story. Jou let out a breath he hadn't even known he'd been holding. It would be nice to know a little more about the person they were working for then Yami for a change.  
  
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A.N. Heh, well yes, that's all for this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. Comments are appreciated. I think I'll need to re-write these A.Ns later... 


	2. Chapter two

Disclaimer: This is Ms. Lee's editor-come-lawyer speaking. On behalf of Ms. Lee, I would like to say that she owns nothing but the plot and her imaginary friend Max. If Ms. Lee did own Yu-Gi-Oh, however, it would not be suitable for the eyes of children and there would be a lot more of Tomb Raider Bakura, Malik and a lot less of Anzu. Please do not sue. Thank you for your time.  
  
Pairings: Seto/Jou, Yami/Yugi, Marik/Malik, Bakura/Ryou,  
  
A.N./ Warnings:  
  
Osiris: Do we have a chapter two in the house? We do?!? WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT! It's chapter two!  
  
Max: Hooray.  
  
Osiris: -.- Don't sound so excited about it.  
  
Max: I try. Warning. This story contains shounen-ai. That means two  
guys getting it on.  
  
Osiris: ^^; Not -quite- getting it on. But close! .  
  
Max: Whatever.  
  
Ladyschumon: Well -he's- a barrel of laughs.  
  
Osiris: Tell me about it. Oh! Ladyschu! *glomps* Everyone, this is my  
wonderful editor!  
  
Ladyschumon: And lawyer! ^^  
  
Osiris: That too. *de-glomps* Anyway, I'd like to thank my wonderful,  
kind, terrific reviewers: Meloncrisp, Jane Silver, Angel-soul03 and  
hyakuhei. I love you all!  
  
Ladyschumon: Thank you for proving me right! *hands out cookies and Yu-  
Gi-Oh plushies to all the reviewers*  
  
Osiris: Proving you right? *confused*  
  
Ladyschumon: I -told- you they'd like it but you didn't believe me! :P  
  
Osiris: *sniffs* But it's ba~ad! *cries*  
  
Max: Yes, it's terribal.  
  
Ladyschumon: Shut up! *thwacks Osiris*  
  
Osiris: @.@  
  
Ladyschumon: And that's 'terrible', Max.  
  
Max: Whatever.  
  
Ladyschumon: Now you see why they need me! ^^ Now, go read! Go! Before  
Osiris wakes up and begins bad-mouthing herself again. Ja!  
  
P.A.N: In case anyone was wondering, these are the guy's ages.  
Seto-22, Jou- 21, Yami-22, Yugi-20, Ryou-20, Malik and Marik-21,  
Bakura- 22, Mokoba- 14  
  
Okay, now let's really get onto the story.  
  
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The one thing I hate about people. Well, there isn't just one thing. It differs from person to person, naturally. Actually, that's probably the thing I dislike the most about the human race. You can't expect the same thing from two different people. That's why I like machines. You know what to expect. No surprises. Except this one program. Even I did not anticipate what it could do. I must keep it separate from the rest of my system as it spreads like a virus. How it does that, I don't know. I certainly did not program it to. So on my laptop it must stay, until I can finally get rid of it. I'm beginning to regret all the protection passwords and traps I put in. How could I have been so careless?  
  
'Master Kaiba? The new guards have arrived Sir.'  
  
'Thank you, I'll see them in a moment.'  
  
Now it seems, I must deal with people again. If only to get rid of this one abnormality in my life.  
  
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'Well from what I've read I knew Kaiba was rich, but this is far beyond what I expected.' Jou clenched his eyes shut, trying in vain to block out Ryou's excited chatter. The boy had never been to France; neither had the others mind you, and was incredibly excited. Any excitement Jou had harboured about his first trip overseas, however, had been squashed upon entering the Kaiba mansion. The ear-splitting vibrations, that had been annoying him all through the plane trip over, had increased tenfold and were giving Jou one massive migraine. Ryou's constant babblings weren't helping either.  
  
'Why is he keeping us waiting?' he muttered angrily, rubbing his temples in a fruitless attempt to relieve the dull ache there. 'We've almost been here for a bloody hour.'  
  
'Oh I'm sure he has his reasons, He has a company to run along with this new problem and-' Ryou was cut off abruptly by the door on the far side of opened and the aforementioned man strode into the room, inspecting the quartet with a critical eye.  
  
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Seto was irritated with himself. Not only had he let himself loose track of time again, he'd also fallen asleep at his desk. It was bad enough that he'd let himself be bullied into extra security by the government. Personally, he thought they were overreacting. Sure, he'd created something terrible, possibly lethal, but letting four new guards, which he hadn't been able to background scan, into his home? A foolish mistake in his opinion. He surveyed the three (A.N: Yes, three) seated around the room in distaste. The two on the settee closest to him, Yami and Yugi Motou if his memory served, were snuggled together as if they were sitting in the winter's snow that had carpeted the land outside instead of in his nice warm living room. Their similar hairstyles were the only thing alike about them aside from their last name. The smaller of the two, Yugi, Seto guessed, was about half a head shorter then any of the others. He had a cheerful smile to match his equally cheerful amethyst eyes. Yami's eyes, on the other hand, were a deep crimson and currently were soft as he gazed down at Yugi who was snuggling into his lap.  
  
'Oh great.' thought Seto. 'Lovebirds, just what I need.'  
  
The other boy in the room was also on the small side. Silver-white spiky bangs hanging to his shoulders and soft brown eyes announced him as being Ryou Bakura.  
  
'He.looks familiar.' Seto squinted slightly, tilting his head so the light caught Ryou at a different angle. His ice blue eyes widened slightly in shock. 'Bakura!'  
  
'If you're quite done staring,' a tired voice behind Seto made him jump. 'Would you care to introduce yourself?'  
  
Turning around with full intent to give the poor person a verbal pounding, Seto felt the angry words die on his lips at the sight of fourth member of the team. Standing a head shorter then Seto himself, Jou Katsuya had his arms crossed, giving Seto a 'Well? Get on with it!' look through his honey coloured bangs. Seto stared into golden brown eyes until Jou broke eye contact, giving Seto the chance to look at the rest of the blond. He trailed down from the eyes over Jou's lips, 'Kissable lips' thought Seto with an internal chuckle, and down the rest of his body. 'On second thoughts,' Seto mused, allowing himself to raise a questioning eyebrow at his new object of interest, 'This might not be so bad after all.'  
  
'I would have thought it was obvious who I am.' The blond shrugged, apathetic to Seto's cool tone.  
  
'Bit difficult to say, with all the people you have running around here.'  
  
'Jou.' Yami had left his Yugi gazing for a moment to reprimand the younger blond. 'Good afternoon Mr. Kaiba, we were sent-'  
  
'By the government, I know.' Seto shook Yami's hand, still eyeing Jou out of the corner of his eye. 'I take it you know what your task is?'  
  
'We've been given a general briefing.' Put in Bakura, 'No, Ryou.' Seto corrected himself. He nodded.  
  
'I see.' He moved to take a seat facing the door. 'Two of you will be required to stand guard around the mansion at all times and assist my personal guards should a break in occur. One of you will guard my younger brother-'  
  
'Your brother?' Yugi spoke up for the first time. 'Why would he need protection?'  
  
'It didn't occur to you that he could be held in exchange to the program?' Seto said coolly before continuing. 'They will accompany him twenty-four hours a day. The last member of the team,' He let his eyes flick over to Jou. 'will be accompanying me through my daily routine.' He stood suddenly, stretching slightly. 'You have the rest of the day to settle in as you start tomorrow. I suggest you decide your roles first off.' With that he stalked out of the room, heading up to his bathroom to relieve himself of an annoying lump in his pants which had come about from thinking too long about just how Jou would look squirming beneath him in pleasure.  
  
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'Prick.' Was the first thing to come out of Jou's mouth as soon as the door closed behind Seto.  
  
'Now now Jou.' Ryou scolded. 'You've only known him fifteen minutes!'  
  
'He was looking at us as if the were some parasite he had to put up with!' Jou complained, resting his head in his hands.  
  
'We should take his advice though.' Said Yami, taking charge. 'Make the most of what's left of today so we'll be fresh for the morning.'  
  
'Be fresh for the morning my foot.' scoffed Jou, getting to his feet. 'I'm going out.'  
  
'Don't get lost Jou!' Yugi called to the retreating blond, before settling back down into Yami's arms.  
  
'He could have stayed to help.' muttered Yami, nuzzling into Yugi's hair.  
  
'Ah leave him be Yami.' smiled Ryou, pulling his chair over. 'He'll be fine. Now who's doing what?'  
  
'Yugi and I will stay in the mansion.'  
  
Ryou nodded, he hadn't been expecting anything else. 'I will look after the young Kaiba. It will be interesting to see how the French schooling system operates.' Ryou chuckled, and then became serious. 'But that would leave Jou stuck with Seto.'  
  
'Good.' Yami grinned wickedly. 'I think it will be good for him, he needs to learn to work with people he doesn't get along with.'  
  
'Is it just that Yami?' Yugi looked up at him knowingly. 'Or are you trying to play matchmaker again?'  
  
'You're too smart Koi.' Yami pecked Yugi on the forehead. 'Don't tell me you didn't see how Kaiba was looking at Jou.'  
  
'I saw.' Ryou giggled, sounding rather feminine. 'He was basically undressing him with his eyes!' He stopped giggling for a moment, blinking quizzically at both Yami and Yugi's stunned faces. 'Oh come on, you don't think I'm that innocent do you?'  
  
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Seto roughly towelled his hair dry, flinging the towel angrily back into the bathroom before slamming the door. Why in Ra's name had he let the blond affect him so? He hadn't had to deal with that sort of problem for years and he didn't particularly wish for it to happen again. Letting himself get attached to anyone was dangerous, it only meant getting hurt.  
  
'Big brother?'  
  
Of course, that didn't include Mokoba.  
  
'Welcome home Mokoba, how was school?'  
  
'Alright I suppose.' Mokoba sat himself down on the bed, watching his brother painstakingly comb his brown mop of hair. 'The other guys are all such pricks though, why can't I go to a public school?'  
  
'I told you Mokoba, it's too dangerous.' Seto replaced the comb, taking a seat next to his brother. 'Who knows what you'd pick up there?' He lay back on the bed, closing his eyes. Mokoba shook his head, knowing his brother hadn't slept last night.  
  
'The new guards arrived?'  
  
'Mmm.' Was all Seto mumbled, his breathing evening out slowly. Mokoba waited until he was sure his brother was sleeping, before slipping to personally greet the newcomers.  
  
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Jou walked slowly down the streets of France, ignoring the bustle of shoppers around him and the snow that was settling lightly in with hair. His headache had dimmed now, with the price of his nose feeling as if it was going to drop off at any given moment. Still, it was better then the constant buzzing. He sighed softly, tilting his head up to looking into the grizzly grey sky above. He'd have to go back there eventually. The thought of having to sleep in that house made him pale. He glanced around the frosty square where he stood, spying a café on the northern side. Settling down at a table he ordered a café latte, thanking Ra for all those tedious French lessons he'd endured back at school. He tipped his aspirin bottle onto the table, cursing under his breath when only two pills fell out. Why hadn't they taught him the word for something as important as aspirin in class anyway?  
  
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'Ah, Pegasus-san?' Jade eyes blinked in the darkness, focusing slowly on the silver haired man sitting near the other end of the room.  
  
'What is it?'  
  
He swallowed, still nervous around the older man.  
  
'Sorry to bother you, but the team from Japan has arrived. You said you-'  
  
'Very good.' Pegasus sipped on his pink champagne, letting the fruity smell linger in his nose for a moment. 'You may go.'  
  
Smirking slightly, he watched the other man leave. 'A good boy.' He chuckled softly, before pulling a pad and pen over and scribbling something down. 'Time to see if Kaiba-boy's new friends are really all they're claimed to be.'  
  
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A.N: Well, there end's another 'enthralling' episode of 'Warning-This program will now terminate' Yes, it now has a name! Go me! Anyway, I believe there is a nice blue button somewhere down there marked review. Now, move your mouse down there and click it! Yes! CLICK THE BLUE BUTTON MARKED REVIEW! Okay, you don't have to. But it would be appreciated. Ja now!  
  
~Osiris-Lee 


	3. Chapter the third

E.N: Hi! This is Ladyschumon aka: Jay aka: The editor-lawyer speaking. Osiris-Lee, aka: Kylie, is away on holiday for 3 weeks but kindly gave me this little chapter 3 to upload for her! So don't expect chpt. 4 for at -least- 3 weeks, probably more as she is slow! XP We hope you enjoy this chapter and if she spelt Mokuba wrong, say so in the reviews. I think it's spelt 'Mokuba' but she wrote 'Mokoba'. As she is more Yu-Gi-Oh-ly inclined than myself, I thought I best go with her spelling. Please, correct us if we're wrong! Thank you!  
  
Disclaimer: This is Ms. Lee's editor-lawyer speaking again. Ms. Lee, as was stated previously, does not own Yu-Gi-Oh, or its characters. She does, however, own the majority of the plot, save the one sided Mokuba/Ryou, that belongs to me. Thank you for your time and please don't sue.  
  
Warnings: Shounen-ai, maybe yaoi, if I can con her into it. Oh yes, one sided Mokuba/Ryou because those Kaiba-brothers love their ukes! ^.~  
  
Pairings: Seto/You, Yami/Yugi, Marik/Malik, Bakura/Ryou and the infamous one sided Mokuba/Ryou.  
  
Now go read and review, my lovelies! XD  
  
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This job worries me. Not the whole guarding business, any mindless moron could do that, but the fact that we know next to nothing about the man we're guarding. Jou's been acting up too, the rate he's consuming aspirin is alarming. I have a feeling there's something he's not telling us. That, is completely unacceptable. If there's something important he has to say he'd better come out with it and quickly. For the benefit of all of us.  
  
Maybe then I'll be able to shake this feeling.  
  
-Yami  
  
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Knocking on the door for the fifth time, Yami watched his younger lover jump impatiently from foot to foot. Even years of fighting the scum of the streets had not managed to strip Yugi's innocent, childlike attitude. 'Keep doing that and you'll wear a hole in the carpet.' He said with a smile, ruffling the shorter man's hair. Yugi halted his bouncing and sent Yami a mock glare accompanied by a pout.  
  
'But Jou's taking so lo~ng!' he complained, trying the doorhandle once again with the same result, locked. 'Jou's not that heavy a sleeper!'  
  
'Maybe he's really tired.' Yami started, before sighing and pulling out a selection of lock picks. 'I'll stop making excuses, anymore waiting and he'll be late.' With that said, he stooped to lock level.  
  
'Yami, are you sure we should-?'  
  
'Too late now.' Yami stepped back and pushed open the door, allowing Yugi to enter before he himself walked into the dimly lit room.  
  
Jou, as expected, was sprawled across the double bed, mouth open, shirt ridden up and white sheets tangled up between himself and the floor. The rest of the room, obviously reasonably untouched by Jou, was clean and decorated with a moderately expensive flair. Lush cream carpet covered the floor, setting off the cream-yellow walls and deep blue sealing. The heavy curtains, also a deep blue, had been hastily drawn closed, letting a thin slide of pale winter sun to stretch across the length of the room. The room was modestly furnished, a wardrobe and dresser being the only pieces in the room, both mahoganies to match the bed. Picking his way through Jou's luggage on the floor, Yugi made it safely to the bedside, giving Jou a gentle poke in the side.  
  
'Jou? Jou, wake up.' Jou didn't reply, rolling over onto his stomach and drooling on the pillow. (A.N: Elegance at its best, that's our Jou) Yugi shot a despairing look at Yami, before trying again. Yami, on the other hand, was more interested in the numerous pill bottles scattered across the dresser. 'Aspirin, Panadol, sleeping tablets, any idea how long Jou's been taking these Yugi?'  
  
'Not a clue.'  
  
'Hn.' Yami squinted at the label through the gloom, eyes widening slightly before he shook the bottle. 'Yugi, try waking him up again, quickly.' Yugi, confused by the urgency in Yami's voice, nodded, shaking Jou again before jumping up and down on the bed, effectively waking Jou up.  
  
'Eughrn?' Jou mumbled incoherently, opening one eye sleepily. 'Oh, hey Yugi.' Yugi beamed brightly, happily telling Jou about how it was about time he woke up. Yami shook his head, smiling, and picked Yugi up off the bed, placing him back on the floor and taking his place by the bedside.  
  
'Jou, how long have you been taking these?' Jou peered at the bottle for a moment before lying down on the pillow.  
  
'Since yesterday.' Yami raised a suspicious eyebrow before unscrewing the lid and inspecting the contance of the half empty pill bottle.  
  
'Jou! The packet said you should only take two a day!' Jou muttered something about not knowing Yami spoke French before speaking up with a shrug.  
  
'Couldn't sleep.' Yami wasn't convinced, but let the matter drop.  
  
'You'd better get up, you're late already and you shouldn't keep Kaiba-san waiting.'  
  
'So he's Kaiba-SAN now is he?' replied Jou, pulling his shit off in favour of a reasonably unwrinkled one.  
  
'Just try to get along with him okay?'  
  
'Whatever.' Jou grabbed a comb, running it through his heavy bangs. 'Okay, what now?'  
  
'You go and meet Kaiba-san.' Yugi piped up, offering Jou his jacket. 'He said he'd wait for you out the front.'  
  
'Thanks Yuge.' Jou affectionately ruffled the tri-coloured man's hair before turning and sprinting down the corridor. Yugi came up behind Yami, wrapping his arm's around his lover's waist.  
  
'How many of those tablet's did Jou take anyway?' Yami shook his head, pocketing the aforementioned pill bottle.  
  
'I don't think we want to know.'  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Checking his watch for the fiftieth time, Seto leaned heavily against the back door of his waiting limousine. Only two minutes had passed since he last checked. Damn. He groaned. That's another two minutes late. Katsuya, Jou, Seto allowed himself the luxury of calling him that in his mind, certainly wasn't about to win any prizes for his punctuality.  
  
Alerted by the sound of heavy foot falls, Seto glanced up to see the aforementioned blond jogging out the front door, still tugging a jacket over his shoulders. Straightening, Seto checked his watch once more. Fifteen minutes left to get through peak hour traffic. Damn.  
  
'Sorry I'm late Kaiba-san.' Jou panted, out of breath from running.  
  
'Too late to worry about that now.' The brunette snapped, opening the limo door and sliding inside. When the blond didn't follow, Seto growled. Did he have to tell him everything? Jou was still standing outside, head tilted to the side, watching the door his employer had just gone through. He was obviously puzzeled as to what he should be doing, it was clear in his eyes. Seto rolled his eyes.  
  
'Just like a puppy.' He thought with a quick grin, before sticking his head back through the open door.  
  
'Well come on.' he paused for a moment, a smirk forming on his lips. 'Puppy.' Seething silently, Jou slipped onto the plush leather interior of the limo after the brunette. What the hell was with this guy anyway?  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Back in the mansion, Mokoba was going through a completely different dilemma. Now, he'd known he was gay for some time, several embarrassing events and dreams had proven that, but never had he thought he'd be in a situation like this. The previous evening, after making sure Seto was out like a light, he'd trotted off to the living room to find three of the four guards in pleasant conversation. After introducing himself to the trio, Mokoba was pleased to find them capable of intelligent conversation and had been willing to tell them a little more of the situation. To Yami and Yugi, he'd provided a house map, he wasn't going to kid himself. The house was dead easy to become lost in and he didn't want the pair dying of dehydration or something if they became lost. Then he'd looked at Ryou. Really looked. The thought of Ryou made Mokoba's cheeks warm. The older man was, well, an angel; soft grey-white hair, doey brown eyes and a brilliant smile, in a word, gorgeous. Mokoba sighed, flopping back onto his bed and grinning. And single by the sounds of it. Moving from the bed to the mirror, he pulled a hair brush through his ebony locks. Yes, he would admit he had a thing for older men. Subduing older men, that is. Most of his deepest, darkest fantasies evolved strapping older men to beds and-. Mokoba shook his head, now was not the time to go thinking those things. He licked his lips, puling his hair back into a ponytail. He'd been ecstatic when Ryou had told him that'd he would be accompanying him to school, grateful for once of his brother's over protectiveness, anything to make that gilded cage slightly more bearable. He stood back from the mirror and, when pleased with his looks, moved for the door. Just wait until those fag- aphoebes saw Ryou. Yup, life just became a lot sweeter.  
  
The Kaiba's kitchen, applied with every cooking gadget and gizmo imaginable, was decorated almost completely in shades. The walls were white, the floor and bench tops pitch black and the cupboards a dark grey. The black tiled floor, swept spotless by the clearer earlier that morning, was heated, sending warmth through Mokoba's unclad feet. Ryou, already dressed and seated at the table, was clutching a mug of coffee and reading the paper. Plastering a grin onto his face, Mokoba bounced over to the older boy, grabbing the cereal on the way.  
  
'Morning Ryou!' he chirped, plonking down opposite him. Ryou looked up from the paper, gracing the younger Kaiba with a smile. Mokoba swooned.  
  
'Good morning Kaiba-san.' Ryou replied, taking another sip from his coffee mug before adding, 'Are you almost ready for school?'  
  
'Firstly, yes, I am ready so we'll leave shortly. Secondly, drop the Kaiba- san.' Mokoba pulled a face, pouring milk onto his cereal. 'It makes me feel old.' Nodding, Ryou took his now empty mug to the sink.  
  
'Hai Mokoba. I'm ready to leave whenever you are.'  
  
'Good.' Mokoba drowned the rest of his breakfast. 'I'll be right back down.' With that, he bolted back up the stairs, grinning madly. Life, in general, just became a whole lot better! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Stepping gracefully from the limo, Seto stood to his full hight, dusting some non existent dust from his blue suit. The traffic had been reasonably light, his driver knowing all the correct roads to take of course, so they were not as late as Seto had originally feared. Hearing a low whistle behind him, Seto turned to see Jou staring at the mansion before them in its full glory.  
  
'Quite a place they have here.'  
  
'That's one way of putting it.' Seto muttered, shading his eyes. 'It's very,' Jou waved his hands a little, looking for the correct word. 'Very, very pink.'  
  
There would have really been no other way to describe it. The mansion, from its walls to the fence posts, was a gaudy shade of pink with crimson awnings and window sills. Pink and red flamingo's dotted the impossibly green lawn while strangely shaped bushes bordered the house. Kaiba's faced held a strained look as he walked through the open gate, pressing the intercom.  
  
'Kaiba-san?' a voice purred over the intercom. Seto gave the intercom a strange look before replying. 'Speaking'  
  
'I'm so glad you've arrived!' the voice purred smoothly, dripping in honey. 'Please make you're way to the front door, I'll be right with you.'  
  
'Sleaze.' Jou muttered when the intercom beeped off, only to receive a glare from Seto.  
  
'Keep your mouth shut Inu.'  
  
Jou, fuming, stalked along the path behind Seto, almost knocking any off the plastic flamingos that happened to get in this way. Stupid flamingos, they reminded him of his mother.  
  
'Jou-kun, I'm sure my flamingos don't deserve that sort of treatment.' The voice from the intercom announce, amused. Looking up, Jou was met with a pair of light brown eyes.  
  
'Good morning Kaiba-san, Jou-kun. I'm pleased you could make it to my humble abode.' The man standing in front of the pair was as strange as the house itself. Light brown eyes, silver-white shoulder length hair and a freaky smile would be strange enough for anybody, but he had topped it off with a red suit and pink shirt with a little bit of red ribbon around the collar.  
  
'What the? How the hell does this whacko know my name?' Thought Jou. The man's smile just grew wider.  
  
'Pegasus-san' acknowledged Seto, offering his hand to shake. 'A pleasure to meet you.'  
  
'Pleasure's all mine.' replied Pegasus, the grin turning into a smirk. 'Please, come in.' Following the strange man, Seto and Jou were led through a house that was as pink as the outside until they reached a different room, this one in green. Jou sighed in relief, his eyes glad to be rid of the strain. Closing the door softly behind Pegasus and Seto, Jou took a place by the back wall. It was times like these he wished he'd brought his book; he really had no interest in business meetings. Closing his eyes for a moment, he was startled to meet Pegasus's brown ones once again.  
  
'Won't you join us at the table Jou? It's really not polite for you two be standing while we sit.'  
  
'Okay, now this guy's really scaring me.' Jou thought, nodding uneasily to Pegasus and moving around him to take a seat next to Kaiba who, by the look on his face, wasn't any more comfortable with the situation.  
  
'Now Kaiba-san,' begun Pegasus, seating himself across the table and helping himself to a bottle of pink Champaign, 'What I would really like to talk to you about is that amazing new program you managed to come up with hmm?' Seto's eyes narrowed.  
  
'And what I would like to know is how you have found out about it. That information is strictly confidential.  
  
'Oh I have my ways Kaiba-boy.' Jou could see Seto tense at the nick name. 'I also happen to have heard about your recent government problems.' 'Oh really?' Seto was taking a new approach. 'And what is it you have heard?' 'What I've heard isn't important.' Pegasus took a sip from his wine glass. 'What is important though, is that I can fix it.'  
  
Jou shifted uneasily in his seat. He could see where this was going, clearly Seto could as well. Though Seto was handling it much better then he was of course. 'And why,' Seto begun, tone cool. 'Would you be willing to do that?'  
  
'Because you have something I want.' It was a simple, to the point statement.  
  
'The program?'  
  
'Bingo.'  
  
'No. The program needs to be destroyed. It's a virus, letting it loose over the internet could cause billions of dollars in damage.' Seto raked a hand through his hair. 'I don't want to be the cause of that.'  
  
Pegasus has tilted his head to the side, his look calculating.  
  
'I really think it would be in your best interest-' He was interrupted by Seto slamming his fist to the table.  
  
'I already told you Pegasus -'san'.' He ground out, eyes narrowing dangerously. 'I'm in this far, the last think I want to do is dig myself in any deeper.' Gathering his briefcase, Seto pushed back his chair and stood, 'Good day.' Watching Seto stalk from the roo, Pegasus only smirked.  
  
'You'll be digging yourself in deeper no matter what you do 'Kaiba-boy.' He leered, taking another sip of Champaign. 'Watch yourself.'  
  
He nodded to Jou, smirk still firmly in place.  
  
'Au revoir Jou, I imagine we'll be meeting again soon.' He chuckled as Jou scuttled from the room after Seto, before letting the smirk fall from his face. Things were not going to plan. This was certainly a dampener on his say, now he was going to have to put his back up plan into action. He pulled out a black cell phone (A.N: No, it's not pink!) and mashed a few buttons, sculling the rest of his alcohol in the process. It took several minutes for the line to be picked up. 'Whaddaya want?' Pegasus's smirk returned, obviously he had woken the man on the other end of the line up.  
  
'Good morning to you too Bakura.'  
  
There was a growl from the other end.  
  
'Pegasus.'  
  
'Now now,' The silver haired man chided. 'That's no way to treat your employer.'  
  
'Just get on with it.' Pegasus' smirk widened to a grin. He always liked Bakura, straight to the point.  
  
'Well let's just say, I have a little job for you.' 


	4. chapter four

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-gi-oh. I do, however, own a Kaiba starter deck and a few booster packs. And they are MINE! So, ha! I also own the plot, well, most of it. Some of it is Ladyschumon's. Hyne, I don't even own my own stories anymore!   
  
Pairings: Seto/Jou, Bakura/Ryou, Yami/Yugi, Marik/Malik, one sided Mokoba/Ryou  
  
A.N: Fourth chapter! Hooray! And yes, it is late. I apologies. But it's long! A whole *checks* 3089 words! Think of that as compensation for the wait. And to think, this was going to be part of the third chapter too.Anyway. I'd like to thank my reviewers from both the second and third chapter, as Ladyschu forgot last chapter. *glares at her* Okay, thank you to Ranma Higurashi (twice!), The Absolinzee, Ru-chan, Angel-soul03 (again!), A lost black cat, Lady Geuna, Iron and Yukito.  
  
Demon Darkness- Jou is sensitive to electrical stuff because.I'm not telling yet! Hah! In other words, I'm not quite sure yet myself. ^^; There -was- a reason though.  
  
Rachael- Thank you! I'll edit those bits soon. As for yaoi.I guess it depends on how much you and Jay actually want me to write it hmm? *wicked grin* As for the spelling of Mokoba, I always have put it a 'Mokoba' though not many other people tend to. Well, we all know who I'm talking about.  
  
So yes! Thank you to all you wonderful people. You really make my day! ^^ Now, I'll stop blabbing and let you get on with the fic.  
  
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Kaiba thinks he's such a good boy. Bullshit that, he's as corrupt as the rest of us. Do whatever it takes to gain the highest profit, that's his motto. This latest choice of his though is.odd to say the least. Disturbing the pattern. Playing along with the government almost never pays off. Which leads me to wonder.why play it safe this time? This is almost nothing compared to some of the risks that man has taken. Only can mean one thing really, he's got someone else to worry about this time. No prizes for guessing who, it's common knowledge his brother's just returned from over seas. One thing's for sure though, Kaiba will pay for depriving me of what I want. He will pay.  
  
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Jou winced as Seto slammed the limo's breaks, causing the expensive black vehicle to skid to a halt just in time for the red light. A handful of school children stared, like deer caught in the headlights, from the middle of the road they'd been crossing until Jou gave them a little wave that sent them scurrying over the opposite side.  
  
Seto, after storming from Pegasus' mansion, hadn't bothered waiting for his driver's return, instead taking the wheel himself. Jou had slipped into the passenger's seat without argument. At the speeds Seto had been driving however, he was beginning to wish he'd stayed back with the driver, creepy pink mansion or no. He let out a shaky breath a the short respite from the roller coaster ride that made up Seto's driving, flexing his hands that had cramped up due to his vice like grip on the car handles. Still simmering, Seto did not seem conscious of where he was driving to, Jou was positive the Kaiba's mansion was in the opposite direction in any case. Either that or the brunette didn't care. Jou cast a look at the older man, wondering what he could say to calm him down.  
  
'Kaiba-san?'  
  
Muttering to himself, Seto rammed down the accelerator, sending Jou slamming into the door as they veered around a corner. He seemed not to have heard the blond.  
  
'Pegasus seemed pretty riled up about this program everyone's getting themselves into a flap about.' Jou glanced at Seto, whose hands had tightened considerably around the steering wheel. 'What could possibly be so interesting about a computer vir-.'  
  
'Enough.' Seto snapped, cutting the younger man off. He took a deep breath before moderating his tone. 'We shall talk about this in my office.'  
  
Jou let it slide, knowing that tone booked no argument. His father had used it often, with dire consequences if it were ignored. He sunk further into his seat as they pulled into the car park of a large office building with a bold sign out the front proclaiming 'Kaiba Corp.'. The buzzing had returned like a smack in the head and Jou was looking forward to spending the afternoon in that building about as much as he would look forward to tap- dancing in a pink tutu. Digging around in his jacket pockets he pulled out his packet of aspirin, downing two tablets dry. He was oblivious to Seto's curious stare.  
  
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Bakura was not a happy man. Well, he was never really happy, but today he was more irate then usual. Not only had his employer, one Pegasus J. Crawford, woken him from an exceptionally nice dream but the horse man had sent him off to kidnap a kid. He muttered angrily, kicking a stone and not even wincing as it smashed the window of an abandoned building. It was a rookie's job, any fool could kidnap a child and he really had better things to do, like throwing daggers at his dart board. His dart board covered in pictures of a certain white haired young man with brown eyes.  
  
He halted outside a fancy building, the only one above one story in the street. It was a red brick affair reaching a grand three stories into the air to finish with slate grey roof. Giant wrought iron fences bordered the grounds with two elaborate gates closing off the driveways. A brick column separated the gates with a sign proudly bearing the words 'Jean Claude's school for young gentlemen.' Bakura snorted.  
  
'More like Jean Claude's school for pansies.' With that he vaulted the fence, landing with a quite thud in the grounds. Walking straight through one of the many vibrant flower beds, Bakura browsed through the open windows, much like a window shopper looking for a particular bargain. Bakura cursed colorfully once he was certain his target was no where on the first floor. The little brat just had to be on the higher stories didn't he? Logically, Bakura knew that it wasn't the child's fault as he didn't choose the timetables, but Bakura was never a very logical man. Still cursing, he hoisted himself into one of the many evergreen trees by the wall before pulling himself onto the thin ledge that ran around the second story.  
  
After three windows, and many more curses, Bakura finally found himself looking into the History class room where his target was currently immersed in his studies. The grey haired man pulled a photo from his pocket before smirking wickedly at the unsuspecting boy. Mokuba Kaiba.  
  
It was likely that Seto Kaiba would have a fit if he knew that anyone had even a picture of the boy, more so that anyone had tracked his route home. Oh how he would have loved to see the older Kaiba's face when he was informed of his younger brother's disappearance.  
  
Moving to jump to the ground, Bakura's smirk vanished as a thought occurred to him. Kaiba would be suspecting an attack like this; the younger boy would not be unprotected even during school. Repositioning himself by the window, Bakura stole another glance into the room. Everything looked normal, the rows of students, the teacher up the front, the white haired boy up the back. Bakura did a double take. White hair, soft brown eyes, gorgeous smile. The smirk returned.  
  
'Ah Ryou,' the darker man chuckled. 'You really have gotten yourself in too deep this time.' Bakura's suspicions were confirmed as the bell rang and the raven haired Kaiba ran over to Ryou, bouncing about impatiently as the older man gathered his belongings. Giving one last hungry leer at the unsuspecting duo, Bakura swung himself onto the school's roof, plucking his cell phone from his back pocket. He tapped in a few numbers, listening impatiently to the dial tone before a familiar voice picked up.  
  
'Moshi moshi?'  
  
'I found the kid.'  
  
'I knew you would,' Was Pegasus' reply, sounding thrilled. 'When can you deliver him by?'  
  
'Tonight at the earliest,' Bakura leant against one of the school's chimneys. 'And I have a proposition for you Pegasus.'  
  
'Oh?'  
  
'I'll deliver the boy half price, if-'  
  
'If?'  
  
'If you let me keep his guard,' there was a chuckle from the other end of the line.  
  
'An old acquaintance of yours?' Glancing over to where Mokoba and Ryou had just exited the building, Bakura allowed himself the luxury of grinning.  
  
'You could say that.'  
  
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Kaiba led the way through the lobby of the Kaiba corp. building, nodding in greeting to the desk clerks before entering the lift, Jou on his heels. The brunette's mood seemed to have improved since the helter-skelter ride through the streets and with this mood came the urge to aggravate his blond companion.  
  
'You'll need a key card to access any of the floors above the twenty- first.' He began, chuckling softly as Jou jumped, surprised at being addressed. 'I'll have my secretary lend you one.' Glancing over in the blonde's direction he was surprised to see the younger man leaning against the elevator wall, a small grimace of pain splayed across his features. He resisted, marginally, from reaching over to tuck a stray lock of golden hair back behind the other's ear.  
  
"You've only known him half a day!" he berated himself, furious. "And you've been irate most of that time anyway. He's just a bodyguard"' He stole another look at the blonde, before continuing.  
  
'I doubt you'll be doing much here besides fetching me coffee, the chance of an attack on me here is remote.' From the look Jou gave him, the younger man would have liked nothing better then to have dumped a pot of coffee over the CEO's head. Seto internally winced. 'I'll tell the secretary to provide you with a card.'  
  
Seto liked his personal floor in the Kaiba corp. building. Actually, he preferred it to his house and would have lived there, had Mokoba not told him that under no circumstance was he not to return to the main house every evening.  
  
"My little brother, setting me a curfew," Seto would have chuckled at the thought if not for the blond slouching along at his side. Seto hadn't meant to upset Jou, well, not much anyway, but the insults had just seemed to roll off his tongue.  
  
"And besides," a mischievous grin threatened to creep its way onto the brunette's face. "He looks so cute when he's angry."  
  
As they approached the end of the corridor, two looming white double doors seemed to reach out of the floor towards the roof, dwarfing the secretary's desk situated on the left hand side of the hall. The secretary, a middle aged woman with unbelievable black curls, looked up from her keyboard and flashed the duo a dazzling smile.  
  
'Kaiba-san!' she chirped happily, pushing herself away from the desk on her wheelie chair. 'I was beginning to wonder when you'd come in today.'  
  
Seto let a smile grace his features. He also liked his secretary, she was good company, unlike the airheads downstairs.  
  
'Good-'he checked his watch. 'afternoon, Jemima. Any news?'  
  
'The usual,' She drawled, chewing on the end of her pen. 'Companies wanting loans, employees seeking favors from the boss, you know the deal.'  
  
'It can wait,' replied Seto, returning to business mode. 'I need a new key card for Jou here.' He hesitated a moment, before adding. 'And one for my office.'  
  
Raising a curious brow, Jemima pulled a flat card from her desk draw.  
  
'I'll need to get the office key cut.' She said doubtfully. 'And whether or not they cut that sort anymore I -.'  
  
'Just do it,' Seto swiped his own card through the lock. 'Please?' He didn't wait for her nod before entering his darkened office.  
  
Seto's office wasn't an overdone, gaudy affair like the pink mansion they'd just left behind them. It was simply yet elegantly furnished with a large oak desk to one side with a black leather chair behind it, A black sofa, matching the chair, furnished the opposite side of the room and there was another white door leading to gods know where at the back of the room.. A huge fish tank containing turtles stood next to the single door. Jou, forgetting his bad mood for a moment, stooped to look closer.  
  
'Never thought you were the turtle type Kaiba,' he ignored Seto's snort. 'What're their names?'  
  
'Caitlin and Frank,' Jou chuckled.  
  
'Frank?'  
  
'I'll have you know I'm rather fond of the name Frank.' Seto said, seating himself at the desk and motioning to the other chair. 'Now I believe there were a few things you wished to know?'  
  
'To put it lightly,' Jou took the offered seat, 'I think I'm, we're, entitled to know what you're gotten yourself into. That's the only way we can help.'  
  
'You weren't sent to 'help'.'  
  
'No, but that doesn't mean we won't,' Seto sighed, leaning back into his chair.  
  
'I suppose I do owe you an explanation,' He began. 'Where do you want me to begin?'  
  
'At the start?'  
  
'A good place,' Seto chuckled, before sobering. 'I was writing a new security system for our company. Several of my newest ideas for VR systems were being stolen before I even begun creating them and several viruses were being sent to us daily, not to mention the amount of Trojans found every month,' Seeing Jou's face become completely blank, Seto decided to elaborate, 'Trojans, spy ware that is sent into someone's computer specifically to send back information to the sender via the internet. Anyway, normal security systems and firewalls were turning out to be completely useless so I decided to create my own.'  
  
'Makes sense.'  
  
'That's what I thought,' Seto ignored Jou as the blond put his feet up onto the table. 'And I was positive I could create a program much better then any commercially available one,' he interrupted Jou as the younger man opened his mouth. 'A vain thought, yes, I know. None the less, I created a basic security system. But naturally I wasn't happy with that, I wanted the -best- security system. So I began writing in extra layers, extra firewalls, basically changing the program into something that I thought would be sufficient. And it was. I installed it the next day onto my personal computer, where quite a number of viruses were being sent and it did the job perfectly, blocking all attempts of sabotage,' Seto paused for a moment, taking a drink from the glass on his desk. Jou took the opportunity.  
  
'I don't see what this has to do with anything.'  
  
'Trust me,' Seto took another sip of water. 'It has everything to do with it. You see, having this untried program exposed to these viruses was probably the worst mistake I could make. You see the program wasn't quite perfect, whatever I believed, and one or two viruses slipped through. These viruses infused themselves with the program and to tell the truth I'm not entirely sure what they did. What I do know is that the program, instead of merely keeping things out of my hard drive, began deleting programs as well. Important programs. In the end it caused my hard drive to crash completely, which in it's self was a relief. I thought that would be the end of it. I had several of my most important programs on floppy disk, so I could transfer them to my laptop. That was my next mistake. You see, the virus not only had infected my main computer but had also infected any floppy disk I had used in that time. Therefore, when I transferred my files to the laptop, the virus was transferred as well.' He sighed, now holding the empty water glass, 'And there you have it, my very embarrassing story.'  
  
'It's not -that- embarrassing,' Jou removed his feet from the desktop. 'But what I would like to know is how come your laptop is still working? Shouldn't it have crashed as well?'  
  
'Technically, yes,' Seto rose from his chair to retrieve the said laptop from his cupboard. Placing it on the desk, he booted the machine up, 'But as I recognized the 'symptoms' of the virus now, I was able to contain it.' He waved the cursor over a large lock program on the desktop. 'Though it is contained for the minute, if I was to plug my laptop into another machine and unlock the program the other machine would be as good as infected. And if that machine was networked to any others those would be infected as well. So you can imagine what would happen if someone was to let it loose into a main internet supplier.'  
  
'Anarchy, Chaos and Destruction?'  
  
'Close enough. Mass crashing of computers globally, important files being lost, hospital programs crashing.'  
  
'Well, I got the chaos and destruction part right,' grumbled Jou.  
  
'I never said you didn't. But you get the picture. With the virus contained, I can work on deleting the program. Unfortunately though, there are many people who would like the virus for their own purposes.'  
  
'Pegasus?'  
  
'He is one of them. That is why the government sent you, to protect my brother and myself,' Seto looked once more at the flashing laptop monitor, 'And the program.'  
  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
  
Mokoba sighed audibly as the last bell of the day sounded. Today had been a particularly bad day, being told off for daydreaming during double science hadn't improved it any either. The only up side was that he'd been left alone by bullies during lunch, but Ryou's presence probably had something to do with that. Mokoba looked over at the white haired man. Ryou had been reasonably quite throughout the day, joining Mokoba at lunch but just staying near the back of the room for the rest of the time. He seemed to have been listening intently to the teacher, scribbling down notes every so often, when he wasn't reading a book. Mokoba walked over to the older man.  
  
'Ready to go?'  
  
'Almost,' Ryou packed the rest of his books into his bag. 'Alright, shall we make a move?' Mokoba nodded.  
  
'We'll be walking home, since it's a nice day,' the two made their way from the school building and away from the school grounds, chatting amiably as they went. Both were unaware of the brown eyed figure slinking after them. 


	5. Chapter five

Disclaimer: "I don't own nothin', so don't sue me. You will only get dried up baked beans and my collection of pocket-fluff."  
  
A.N: HI!!! *glomps all her lovely readers* Sorry about the wait people, had exams, then camp and we all know I'm lazy. I won't waste time blabbing now though. Thank you to;  
  
- KisaandYaoiBoyKenta,  
  
- ColeyCarissa,  
  
- alostblackcat (this chapter should explain things a little about Bakky and Ryou)  
  
- Ranma Higurashi  
  
- IronandYukito (Whoa! Remind me never to let Iron near -my- chocolate milk!)  
  
- miyu13us (Well, the idea actually came in a dream, I dreamt the end. As for what the boy's actually do, I'm not quite sure. Some sort of government agents if that helps at all.)  
  
- Angel-soul03  
  
- Demon Darkness (thank you for the Yu-Gi-Oh plushies! *glomps*)  
  
Yes, I love you all! *hands out Duel Monsters cookies for everyone* Now, onto the story.   
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~  
  
'Speech'  
  
"Thoughts"  
  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
  
'Ryou!' The white haired man rolled his eyes, grinning, before waiting for the younger boy to catch up. Mokoba bounced over happily, before planting himself in front of his guard.  
  
'Can we buy ice-cream?' the raven haired boy put on his best puppy dog eyes. 'Please?'  
  
'Now I believe that would be the fifth time you've asked me.' Said Ryou, grinning. 'And five just happens to be my favorite number-' Mokoba's eyes lit up. 'So I suppose we'll have to get one won't we?'  
  
'Yeah!' Mokoba did a victory jump, fist raised. 'Let's go!' With that he grabbed Ryou's hand, successfully dragging the brown eyed man down the street. After a few blocks Mokoba stopped for a moment to get his bearings, allowing Ryou to catch his breath before being dragged off towards a narrow alleyway.  
  
'Mokoba?' Ryou stopped short. 'I'm not so sure that's such a good idea.'  
  
'Sure it is!' chirped Mokoba, bouncing from one foot to the other. 'I do it all the time!'  
  
'I don't know.' said Ryou slowly. Dark alleyways always gave him the creeps; he avoided them even during the day. It didn't make him feel the slightest bit reassured that he'd been having the feeling of being watched all afternoon. That and the thought of going through an alley were causing his mind to scream at him to continue down the sunny main street. Mokoba, however, was not to be deterred.  
  
'C'mon, Ryou!' Ryou had no further time to hesitate as he was forcefully re- grabbed and dragged into said alleyway. The alleyway was nothing like the sort you see in the movies, there were no creates stacked up along the sides, no sinister looking narrow doors and no half dead drunks, much to Ryou's relief. It was more of a narrow laneway between buildings, empty save for a few overgrown weeds along the bases of the buildings. Or, at least, it appeared empty. Continuing to drag the white haired man along, Mokoba only stopped when they were just short of a brick wall.  
  
'Oops.' He muttered, a tad bashfully. 'Wrong alley,'  
  
'I really think we should take the main road, Mokoba.' begun Ryou. 'It would be a lot quicker then going down every-' he broke off abruptly as he felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise and a familiar feeling rush over him.  
  
'It would be quicker would it?' a horrifyingly familiar voice drawled from behind them. 'Would it really?'  
  
Taking a deep breath, Ryou turned around to face a man who could almost be his twin. 'Bakura.'  
  
'Oh my.' Leaning against the wall in the shadows, Bakura smirked at his prey through his grayish bangs. 'However did you guess?'  
  
Unlike Ryou, who was clad purely in pastels and whites, Bakura was dressed in a deep crimson shirt, the top buttons undone half way and the bottom un- tucked from his black leather pants. A black belt collar, lace up combat boots and a sliver neck chain completed the outfit. His grey hair, wilder then Ryou's though almost the same cut, hung loosely to his shoulders.  
  
'Ryou, Ryou, Ryou.' Bakura started forward at a leisurely pace, backing Mokoba and Ryou right back into the wall. 'You really do like to get yourself into -interesting- situations.'  
  
'Stay away from him!' Mokoba yelled, pushing in front of Ryou and glaring at the newcomer.  
  
'Relying on children to protect you now Ryou?' asked Bakura casually, ignoring the young Kaiba's growl at being called a child. Ryou put his hand on Mokoba's shoulder, causing the raven haired boy to blush lightly.  
  
'I'll handle this.' He whispered, before straightening to look Bakura in the eye. 'What do you want Bakura?'  
  
'There are many answers to that question.' replied the older man. 'But for the moment, I'll settle for taking young Mr. Kaiba behind you.' Bakura internally chuckled as Ryou pushed the younger boy behind him, despite Mokoba's protests. "Ryou you're so predictable." He thought, taking another step straight into the white-haired man's personal space. Ryou, finally deciding to take action, grabbed Mokoba's wrist and quickly ducked past Bakura. Foreseeing this, Bakura quickly thrust his arm out, grabbing Mokoba around the waist and holding him. Quickly pulling a pistol out of Ra knows where, he pressed the muzzle to the wide eyed boy's temple.  
  
'I wouldn't try that again Ryou.' His tone was conversational, as if he were merely talking about the weather. 'I don't think Kaiba would be too pleased if you got his brother shot.'  
  
'Run Ryou!' Mokoba shouted, struggling. 'He works for Pegasus! Tell my brother that-' he ended off with a soft yelp as the butt of Bakura's gun connected with the back of his head.  
  
'Finally.' Bakura tossed the unconscious body to the side of the alley as if it were an empty sack. 'His whining was beginning to annoy me.'  
  
'Mokoba!' Forgetting the threat of the older man for the minute, Ryou ran to Mokoba's prone body. Hoisting the younger boy into his lap he paled slightly as a trickle of thick red blood ran slowly onto his hand from the back of his charge's head.  
  
'Shimatta, Bakura.' Ryou laid Mokoba back to the ground, before straightening to glare at the other man. 'You go too far.' Bakura raised a brow at this.  
  
'I see you've changed since I last saw you.' Without warning, Bakura darted forward, catching Ryou off guard and pinning him to the brick wall behind, Ryou gulped, audibly.  
  
'But you know,' Bakura leaned forward, licking at Ryou's neck. 'I think I like you feisty.' Taking advantage of Ryou's shock, Bakura slammed his lips against the younger man's, forcefully deepening the kiss. Quickly re- acquainting himself with Ryou's mouth, Bakura bit down on Ryou's lower lip harshly before he became drunk on the other man's natural sweet mint flavor. Savoring the small yelp of pain from the younger man and the coppery tasting liquid flowing onto his tongue, Bakura broke the kiss and smirked down at the stunned and panting Ryou. Slipping his hand round to the back of Ryou's neck, Bakura pulled him closer once again and put his lips next to Ryou's ear.  
  
'You've always been mine.' He whispered, before giving a certain nerve in Ryou's neck a tweak. Lowering the now unconscious Ryou to the ground, Bakura licked some of the white haired man's blood from his lips.  
  
'Always mine.' With that he stood, walking back down the alley to where his car was parked. If he remembered correctly, he had some rope tucked away somewhere in the boot.  
  
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Though off to a bumpy start, Pegasus' day had been improving greatly since the morning's meeting. He'd gone outside and kicked a few of his prized pink and red plastic flamingos (and now completely understood why Jou had done it), sacked a few of his servants and 'had his way' with a few of the boys he'd had his henchmen pick up off the streets. After he'd made sure they were viral free of course. Now, feeling better, he was seated in his living room, sipping champagne and watching re-runs of Oprah while having his nails filed by one of the said boys. His daytime viewing was interrupted, however, by the shrill ring of 'Ode to Joy' from his cell phone. Waving the boy away, Pegasus picked up the device and hit the green button.  
  
'Moshi moshi?'  
  
'Gottem.'  
  
'Good!' cooed Pegasus, putting his glass down. 'I trust the guard gave you no trouble then?' There was a pause, then a pleased chuckle from the other end of the line.  
  
'Nothing that wasn't handled.'  
  
'Good. You know where to take them.'  
  
'I trust Ryou's cell is next to my room?'  
  
"Ryou?" Pegasus broke out into a grin. "So that's the name of Bakura's 'acquaintance' is it?" He dropped the grin to a smirk. 'As promised.' He was only answered by the dial tone. He hadn't expected anything else. Stretching back luxuriously, much like a cat in the sun, he waved the boy back, grabbing his hand and pulling him onto the older man's lap.  
  
"Operation: Piss Seto Kaiba off, well under way."  
  
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Ignoring the muffled whimpers from the boot of the car, Bakura was sprawled ungracefully across the back seat of his 4WD with a still unconscious Ryou half nursed in his lap. Stroking the younger man's hair lovingly he held his mobile phone in the other.  
  
'I trust Ryou's cell is next to my room?' he didn't even notice his slip in saying Ryou's name, too intent was he in twirling a few strands of the aforementioned man's hair between his fingers.  
  
'As promised.' With that Bakura hung up, he had more important things to deal with then that pedophilic weirdo. Moving his precious burden into an upright position, he gently pushed a few of Ryou's bangs away from his angelic face. In truth, he'd been a lot gentler with Ryou today then he had been in the past.  
  
"Though I don't know why." He thought bitterly. "Running away like that."  
  
After securely fastening Ryou's body to the back seat, Bakura slithered between the front seats to the driver's, flipping the key's in the ignition. Slamming the accelerator down he sent the car careering down the quite streets of Paris. He paid no attention to any of the obscenities yelled at him for his driving, when usually this would have made him chuckle. All his thoughts were on the albino strapped to the back seat.  
  
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Seto was pacing again, much to Jou's annoyance. It was heading on six and the sky was darkening rapidly and, much to the brunettes chagrin, there was no sign of the younger Kaiba. 'Where the hell are they?' Seto shouted, the sound ricocheting off the high walls of the front hall. Jou had avoided answering this question already, not wanting to reassure the older man in case there was real reason to worry, but this time it didn't seem Seto was going to give him that option. Having been leaning against the wall, eyes half lidded, Jou was abruptly jerked out of his daze by one of Seto's hands connecting with the wall beside his head.  
  
'Well?' Jou looked up, startled, into the angry ocean blue eyes of his current employer. 'He's on your team, where are they?'  
  
'I don't know Kaiba-san.' Jou said, uncomfortable at the brunette's close presence. 'I've already tried his mobile, as you saw. There's really nothing we can do except wait.' He breathed a sigh of relief as Seto pushed away from the wall, emitting a low growl. Which lead the blond to wonder what other things could make the CEO growl like that.  
  
"Whoa, Jou!" The blond cut that train of thought off quickly. "Don't even think about it. You may like guys, but Kaiba doesn't even make it to the consideration list!" he watched Seto stalk up and down the room a few more times, occasionally gracing Jou with a death glare. "And besides, this guy has an ice pick crammed -way- to far up his ass to be my type." Caught up in his inner monologue, Jou failed to notice Seto speaking until the brunette was almost yelling again.  
  
'I hired you people to -prevent- this sort of thing happening. But no! It happens the day you -start-!' Seeing where this could lead to, Jou decided to cut in.  
  
'Kaiba-san-'  
  
'Don't you Kaiba-san me, Jou.' Seto raged on, pointing a quivering finger at the blond. 'I know you don't like me, I don't want you to pretend you like me. Hell! All I want is for you bunch of numbskulls to do your fucking job!'  
  
'And you know what I'd like -you- to do?' asked Jou calmly. 'I'd like you to stop making accusations before you even know what happened! There are limits to what we can do, we're only human!' Jou hesitated a moment, feeling Seto's glare piercing him, before picking up where he left off. 'You think you're so much better then the rest of us, like some god or something, so you forget that we can make mistakes too. Nobody's perfect, not even you, and I'd like you to think about that before you go throwing about accusations more often.' Taking a shuddering breath, Jou managed a half hearted glare at the older Kaiba before moving towards the door. Pausing at the doorframe, he addressed the other man without turning.  
  
'I shall inform Yami and Yugi of the situation so they can begin a systematic (A.N:OOH! Jou knows a big word!) in the morning. Goodnight, -Kaiba-.'  
  
Wincing at the way Jou had stressed the lack of honorific on his name, Seto watched the blonde trudge up the stairs, shoulders hunched as if the weight of the world lay on his shoulders.  
  
"You shouldn't have done that." His inner voice scolded him; Seto could just imagine the little angel him lecturing. "You can't blame him for something he has no control over."  
  
'Shut up.' Blue eyes flashed dangerously as Seto growled at the damned thing most people refer to as a conscious, Seto preferred the name 'pest'. Shaking his head at the thought of actually talking to himself, the CEO slowly followed the blond up the stairs, thought now focused on having a shower and a good night's sleep. Oh, and also of a certain blonde who was in a room just down the corridor.  
  
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It was heading on midnight when Seto once again remerged from his room, wide awake despite the late hour. That was the problem, he couldn't sleep and he had a sneaky suspicion that his conscious had something to do with it, payback for shoving it aside again like he always did. Annoying voice in his head, he never did like it.  
  
So here he was, CEO of Kaiba corp., one of the most successful and respected businessmen in the world, wandering around the seemingly endless hallways of his mansion clad in black silk PJs and blue-eyes slippers, all because of a voice in his head. If he'd actually thought about the situation, it would have been hilarious. Before the thought occurred to him, however, he heard a soft padding of feet come from the nearby bathroom. Peaking around the corner, he was met with Jou's retreating back. The blond was still clad as earlier, obviously not having retired for the night yet though seeing Jou give a wide yawn and a stretch assured Seto that his unsuspecting bodyguard was not having the same problem as he was. He waited until the honey-eyed man had retreated to his room before emerging into that corridor and walking to the door. Cautiously, he pushed the door slightly ajar, peering inside and almost passing out from a nosebleed at the sight.  
  
Jou had stripped down to his boxers and was currently struggling to get the shirt from his arms above his head, Seto spun away from the door and leaning against the wall, panting slightly.  
  
"You've only known him for a day!" he reprimanded himself mentally. He sighed heavily, sinking down against the wall. "But is it -my- fault he's so gorgeous?" Closing his eyes, Seto indulged himself with the mental picture of Jou's sun-kissed body reflected in the moonlight, struggling helpless with his tee-shirt bonds. No, it definitely couldn't be his fault that he longed to walk straight in there and grab the blonde, throw him down onto the bed and ravish him until he was so sore he wouldn't be able to move from Seto's arms in the morning. Seto let out a soft moan at the tightening in his groin.  
  
"Whoa, bad Seto!" Despite his berating, Seto risked another glance from his position on the ground. Jou was now standing by the dresser examining a variety of bottles.  
  
"Pill bottles?" Now Seto was interested. Jou squinted at the label for a moment before tipping out two of the pills into his left hand. Swallowing them dry, Jou waited a moment before once more squinting at the label. Emptying five more tables onto his palm, Jou took a gulp from the glass on the dresser with his mouthful. The blond replaced the bottle, leaning heavily on the dresser and running his hands through his honey hair. Seto saw him tilt before Jou realized it, bolting through the door and catching the now sleeping blonde just before he hit the ground. Picking up the sleeping man bridal style, Seto placed him lightly on the bed before picking up the discarded bottle.  
  
'Sleeping tablets? Ah, puppy.' Seto used his free hand to brush away one of Jou's bangs. 'What haunts your dreams and causes you to resort to these?' Returning the bottle to its place, Seto shot one last look at the sleeping blonde who was currently hugging a pillow.  
  
"Cute." thought Seto, before slipping out of the room. He knew Mokoba wouldn't like it if he didn't rest at least once this week. But Seto knew that, as before, he wouldn't be sleeping.  
  
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	6. Chapter six

Disclaimer: I own a rather nice collection of Yu-GI-Oh cards, a poster and the first manga of Yu-Gi-Oh. I do not, however, own the actual thing, as much as I wish I did. I also do not own the idea of a Mokoba/Ryou relationship, nor do I own the idea of Seto in a chicken suit. They belong to Jay and my sister, respectively. I don't own myself either. I belong to Jay. So basically, don't sue.  
  
Pairings: Seto/Jou, Bakura/Ryou, Yami/Yugi, Marik/Malik, one sided Mokoba/Ryou  
  
A.N: Again, I apologize for the lack of updates. I had it done, really! I just...hadn't typed it up. Yes, I know I'm lazy. And the net distracted me. And...I'll stop. Thank you time! Thanks to:  
  
Ladyschumon- Yes, I'm thanking you this time!  
  
Alostblackcat- Thank you! I love you!  
  
Ranma Higurashi- I love you two!  
  
Dell- *laughs* Thanks for the ideas! Much appreciated, even if they -are- a little kooky.  
  
Also, thank you to Katri, my sister. She beta read this chapter for me. I love her too, in a sisterly sort of way.  
  
Now, On with the show!  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
'Speech'  
  
"Thoughts"  
  
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I don't believe it. Alright I do, this room and my headache prove it well enough. Probably more accurate to say: I don't want to believe it. I thought I'd left -him- behind. How long has it been now, three years? Not quite.I was seventeen. What an age to get into a serious relationship. And be serious, I mean seriously wrong. Who knew that such a 'nice' guy could be so violent? Was there something he wanted from me that I didn't give? I don't' think so, he would have just taken it anyway.  
  
So what did he want from me? I still don't know, not sure I want to either. Three years of me hiding sure won't have improved his mood and I'm sure I'll be hit with the full brunt of that soon enough. I only hope I can still protect Mokoba.  
  
The strangest thing about this though? I still love him.  
  
Damn you Bakura.  
  
~Ryou  
  
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A black cordless phone lay precariously close to the edge of a cream kitchen bench, edging closer to its doom with each shrill ring it emitted. Just as it teetered and toppled over however, a tanned hand snatched it up, giving it a twirl before pressing the receive button.  
  
'Ya?'  
  
'Marik? Would you put Malik on the line?' Marik let loose and insane giggle, tempted to just hang up. He never really liked Yami anyway.  
  
'Ya didn't say please.' He drawled, flopping onto the sofa and sprawling out. Tormenting his boss had to be one of his favorite pastimes, he knew full well that Yami wouldn't sack him. Fire him, and they'd lose Malik as well.  
  
'Marik, I don't have time for this!' Yami snapped, clearly impatient. 'We have an emergency and-'  
  
'Say please and I might let ya speak to him.' There was some angry, incoherent mumblings from the other end of the line before Yami replied.  
  
'Please may I speak to Malik, Marik.'  
  
'Better!' Marik crowed, jumping off the sofa with vigor. 'See Yami? All ya had to do was ask!' the Egyptian cackled at Yami's colorful swearing while he flounced over to his lover's bedroom.  
  
Malik was still asleep, sprawled out across the entire double bed the couple shared, and was snoring lightly. Marik grinned at this, creeping over to where one of Malik's tanned feet was protruding from underneath the covers. Pulling out a feather he saved for just such occasions, the insane Egyptian began delicately running the said feather gently across the sole of Malik's foot. The result, needless to say, was incredibly pleasing. Something that sounded like a mixture of a yell and a howl passed through Malik's lips and the blonde jumped three feet in the air, all the while managing to hit Marik over the head with the nearest inanimate object, a pillow in this case.  
  
'Marik you little shit!' Malik yelled, lavender eyes flashing dangerously. 'If I had a gun I would-' he stopped short as Marik shoved the phone in this face.  
  
'Phone for you.' This calmed the smaller man down considerably.  
  
'Oh.' He took the receiver, still muttering death threats under his breath. 'Moshi moshi?'  
  
'I don't think I wanna know what was going on over there.' Came the amused voice of Yami from the other end of the line.  
  
'Yamiester!' Malik reclined back onto his bed, booting Marik in the face as the spiky haired man tried to resume his tickle torture. 'What can I do for ya? Need the remedy for arse cramp yet?'  
  
'Far from it.' Yami's tone was dry. Catching the hint, Malik sobered immediately. 'Ya really need help this time eh? Sup?' he listened intently as Yami explained the situation, twirling Marik's now confiscated feather in his fingers. As Yami summed up, Malik let out a low whistle.  
  
'Looks like you got way more then expected this time, hey Yami?' he ignored the other's growl. 'Well I suppose I'll get over there pronto and in the meantime, look up everything I can on this Pegasus guy.' Pausing a moment, he glanced over to where Marik was sulking in the corner. 'Ya want Marik along too?' There was a moment of silence from the other end.  
  
'Yes.' came the halting reply. 'I think we'll need him. Just make sure he doesn't terrorize the poor people at airport again.'  
  
'Will do. I'll see ya this evening then.' Malik hung up, chucking the phone into Marik's lap before sauntering over to his computer and flicking it on. They were going to need every bit of information on Pegasus by the sounds of it, and Malik planned to dredge up everything he could before they left. After all, things must be pretty serious if Yami was willing to have Marik along.  
  
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Jou was walking down the busy streets of Paris, dodging children and generally enjoying the chilly winter day. His nose, for once, wasn't freezing off and he could still feel all of his fingers and toes. In fact, it was an incredibly pleasant temperature for a change, not that Jou was complaining. He smiled as a group of children ran past happily throwing snowballs and squealing. Normally children annoyed the hell out of him but today it was.......nice to have them around. The crowd around him increased as he walked into an open street market, the sounds and smells embracing him as he wandered deeper into the throng. Turning into a less crowded street Jou meandered, gazing at all the hand made goods. For the first time in awhile he felt...content. It was nice, as if his world had suddenly corrected itself. Lost in his internal musings, the blond didn't notice he had left the marked behind him until a cold wind picked up, whistling harshly though his winter coat. Shivering whilst pulling the thick fabric closer to his body, brown eyes blinked in confusions at the deserted street.  
  
'A puppy shouldn't be out without it's master, especially in this weather.' The mocking voice from behind him caused Jou to jump a foot in the air before whirling around, anger coloring his face.  
  
'I thought I told-' his anger abruptly fizzled out as he stared at his employer. His glare had been met with the familiar posture and ice blue eyes but the outfit...Jou couldn't help himself, laughter burst out from him before he could hold it back. 'Kaiba? Why the hell are you wearing a -chicken- suit?' Seto's eyes narrowed in anger at the blonde's continued mirth.  
  
'I wouldn't laugh at your employer, mutt.' The anger melted into a cruel smirk and he gestured with his right...wing. 'It could have...unwanted results.' Leaving Jou with this, Chicken Seto strode purposefully from the street but not before giving the blond a last smirk. 'You always have time to redeem yourself Pup.'  
  
Jou stared after the brunette as he waddled off, before scratching the back of his head in confusion.  
  
'What da? Well that was weird.' A strange, evil sounding clucking noise came from the house next to him, distracting him from his musing. Turning his head to the side out of curiosity he was met with the sight of a large, evil looking chicken, not that Jou was sure it was possible for a chicken to look evil. The chicken took a few menacing steps forward, causing Jou to back up a few steps only to fall over another evil looking chicken who glared maliciously down at him. The blond sat up quickly, shuffling backwards with a startled yelp. His escape was foiled, however, by the sudden appearance of more evil chickens. Jou shakily got to his feet, now seeing that he was surrounded by the possessed fowl, and let out a deep breath. He could get out of this, they were only chickens...right? As if hearing his thoughts the chickens attacked, flying at him and peaking at him with a vengeance. Jou squeaked at the sudden onslaught, throwing his hands over his face in a vain attempt to protect it from the furious pecking.  
  
Almost as soon as it began though, the pecks stopped. Gingerly, Jou removed his bleeding hands from his face to find himself lying on Seto's lap. The CEO smiled smirked down at him, running a hand through Jou's sandy locks.  
  
'Give up yet?'  
  
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Honey eyes snapped open, blinking once, twice and a third time just for good measure. Jou sat up abruptly, pale cream sheets pooling at his wait, before running a hand through sleep tussled hair. It was just a dream. A very strange, twisted dream.  
  
'Stupid tablets.' He muttered angrily before glancing at the glaring red numbers of his clock then flopping back onto the bed with a groan. He was late. Again. Making a mental note to actually set the alarm later he swung his legs over the edge of the bed and stood. Funny, he didn't remember getting in...  
  
'Definitely too many tablets.'  
  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Yami hung up the phone with a groan, sitting down with a thud next to Yugi who promptly wrapped his arms around his older lover's waist.  
  
'Are they really that annoying to you?' Amethyst eyes blinked up at Yami and he felt the sudden urge to pick up his koi and snuggle him.  
  
'Not really.' He restrained himself, sighing and stretching instead. 'They just worry me.'  
  
'As they do everyone. That's their job.' Yugi giggled at the face the older man pulled, tapping Yami on the nose. 'The wind will change and you'll be stuck that way.'  
  
'Now wouldn't that be a shame.' Yami quickly grabbed Yugi's wrists and trapped the younger man beneath him. 'Wouldn't want such a handsome face as mine to go to waste like that would we now?' A soft cough from the doorway caused the two to jerk away from each other, before they both glared at a slightly amused looking Seto.  
  
'I hate to pull you two away from your fun like that.' Seto walked gracefully across to the chair at the opposite side of the room. 'But I think we have more important things to discuss then Yami's facial expressions.' Yugi blushed at this while Yami merely smirked. Looking hurriedly for a way to change the subject, Yugi scanned the room for a topic of discussion. He frowned when he found on, or rather a lack of one.  
  
'Where's Jou?' he asked suddenly, breaking the silence that had enveloped them.  
  
'Still sleeping.' The CEO's tone softened slightly at the mention of the brown eyed blond. 'He looked to peaceful to wake really.' Yami shot Yugi a knowing grin.  
  
'Told you.' He muttered. Yugi just stuck his tongue out at his lover.  
  
'That was nice of you, to let him sleep I mean.' The shorter man continued. Seto just nodded wearily. For the first time Yugi noticed the first visible signs of stress showing on the other man, his eyes were slightly sunken with lack of sleep and he had slight wrinkles forming across this brow. The CEO unknowingly confirmed his suspicions by yawning softly, though the amethyst eyed boy had no more time to think about it as Seto finally asked the question they'd been waiting for.  
  
'Now, what do you propose we do about my brother?'  
  
Yami pulled a small envelope from his jacket and tossed it across the table to Seto, who scanned it and nodded.  
  
'It's what we expected.' Yami began, getting comfortable. 'Your typical ransom note "Hand over the program or we'll hurt your brother" in short.'  
  
'It's from Pegasus.' Yami nodded at Seto's comment. 'You can tell by the rabbit.'  
  
'Rabbit?' Yugi hadn't looked at the note yet, so Seto handed it over.  
  
'Funny Bunny, Pegasus' personal favorite. It's a well known fact he loves cartoons.' The brunette leaned back, rubbing his temples. 'We can't use that to pin it on him though, Funny Bunny's a popular cartoon around here, anyone could use it.'  
  
'But it is Pegasus though.' Yugi went over the note again.  
  
'Nobody else calls me Kaiba-boy, trust me.'  
  
'True.' Yugi handed the note back to Yami with a small frown before crossing his legs. 'So what can we do to prove it?'  
  
'Nothing until we get Mokoba and Ryou back.' Yami was also frowning, deeper then Yugi. 'I won't risk them being hurt by going to the authorities.' This caused the CEO to scowl.  
  
'Then what do we do?' Yami looked at him passively.  
  
'We bust in and get them ourselves.'  
  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
  
A shaft of sunlight slid slowly across the room, illuminating a slight, pale hand that was sprawled across the narrow white bed in the corner. Ryou smiled slightly as the rays warmed his skin.  
  
"How nice." He thought bitterly. "They gave me a cell with a window." Having woken at least an hour ago, they'd taken his watch so he couldn't be sure, Ryou had found himself draped across this bed, all valuables stripped from his possession and his head pounding.  
  
"They just had to go drug me too." He unconsciously rubbed the back of his neck. "As if what Bakura did wasn't effective." And Ryou knew just how effective if could be. It had been Bakura's main 'subduing' maneuver, something he practiced when needing to get Ryou out of the way of somewhere the white haired man did not want to be. He should have known it would be coming.  
  
Actually, things hadn't gone too badly, considering Bakura had been involved. True, Bakura had thrown Mokoba across an alley and knocked them both out but he hadn't used his knives. That was always a good thing, you knew Bakura was pissed when he whipped out a knife.  
  
Ryou was awoken from his internal musings as the sounds of locks being unbolted drifted through the door. He didn't bother moving, just re-closed his eyes. There was a pause after the door opened, as if the invader was hesitating, before the slapping of rubber against lino made its way over to the bed.  
  
'I know you're awake.' Ryou cracked open an eye, meeting the annoyed face of Bakura who was above him.  
  
'You always do.' Bakura hadn't changed clothes since last night, with the exception of a black leather jacket being thrown over his shirt, so Ryou guessed the older man hadn't slept. His pistol, hidden before, was now strapped to his side though his knives remained invisible, most likely hidden up his sleeves. The thought of those didn't calm Ryou one bit.  
  
Bakura, oblivious to Ryou's unease, was taking the opportunity to study his prize without it running away. Just looking at the white haired man reminded Bakura why he had wanted him in the first place. His opposite. They were bi-polar in nearly every way. Where Bakura was tough as nails, Ryou was cream puff soft. Ryou was nice to nearly everyone he met, where Bakura was, well, less then civil to those he didn't like. That was why Bakura wanted Ryou, to possess what he wasn't and could never be. To own what he couldn't do. Not to mention that Ryou was the most beautiful being the grey haired man had laid eyes on. Unfortunately, Ryou had run away before Bakura could claim him completely, something Bakura meant to remedy and quickly. Even if it involved force. But that could wait for later.  
  
'Pegasus wants to see you.' He said casually, breaking the heave silence.  
  
'Good for him.' Ryou replied shortly, re-closing his eyes and turning to face the wall. Narrowing his eyes at the small show of defiance, Bakura had to resist his primal urge to knock the boy out again. Pegasus wanted to talk -now-, and Bakura didn't really feel like arguing with him. Instead he hooked his right arm underneath the younger man's waist, easily lifting Ryou clean off the bed. Balancing his bundle over his left shoulder, Bakura ignored Ryou's futile struggles to escape and proceeded in carrying the younger man down the corridor. Several minutes and many strange stares later, Bakura deposited Ryou outside an ornate, though rather gaudy, wooden door.  
  
'I'd rather you didn't make this difficult.' He snapped, silently enjoying Ryou's involuntary wince. 'Don't give me a reason to hurt you.' Ryou just closed his eyes momentarily before giving Bakura a sad, humorless smile.  
  
'You ever needed a reason?' He didn't have time to avoid, or even block, the oncoming blow, letting out a soft squeak as Bakura fist connected with the soft flesh of his lower abdomen. Dropping to his knees, thoroughly winded and numb from the amount of raw pain lancing through his stomach, Ryou was painfully aware of Bakura's cold glare boring into the top of his bowed head. He coughed raggedly, trying to assess the damage. From the feel of things, Bakura had added another broken rib to Ryou's record.  
  
'Remember where you stand.' The grey haired man ground out, turning to face the aforementioned wooden door. It was unnecessary, being keeled over as Ryou was the younger man couldn't see the regret flickering quickly across Bakura's face.  
  
'Get up already, weakling.' Bakura busied himself with opening the door. 'I can't be bothered dealing with an angry Pegasus right now so step!' Still clutching his side, Ryou decided to go along with it, he didn't need another cracked rib and Pegasus wasn't about to beat him. Hopefully.  
  
Bakura watched his obsession walk warily past him, smirking slightly at Pegasus' personal room. Surprisingly it wasn't pink, but a rather eye pleasing set of maroon shades. Bakura personally found it to be one of the more pleasant rooms in Pegasus' possession, though it would be more so if it weren't so often inhabited by the silver haired man who was currently seated in the center of it, a young boy snuggled up in his lap. Curling his nose in disgust at the sight, Bakura gave Ryou a little push towards the center of the room.  
  
'Ryou.' came Pegasus' purr. 'How nice of you to Join me.' The silver haired man finally looked up at the newcomers, eyes widening slightly when they settled on Ryou. Standing, he shooed the boy away before walking over to the doe eyes man, hooking his pointer finger under Ryou's chin and tilting the pale face up.  
  
'My, my. You -are- a pretty one, aren't you?' he cooed giving Ryou's check a pinch that made the younger man blush. Pegasus chuckled at this before noticing the firm clutch Ryou had on his side.  
  
Bakura frowned as Pegasus knelt at Ryou's side, lifting the pale boy's shirt and jumper to expose the bruised flesh underneath. It was all he could do to withhold his growl as Pegasus ran light fingers over Ryou's skin, causing the white haired man to whimper softly in pain. Pegasus tutted softly, standing and letting Ryou's shirt fall before re-seating himself and gently pulling Ryou onto his lap. This was the last straw for Bakura.  
  
'Get off him Pegasus.' Pegasus hardly graced Bakura with a glance, he was too busy playing with Ryou's hair.  
  
'Hmm, Bakura?' he finally looked up, smirking at his employee. 'You wanted something?' This time Bakura really did growl.  
  
'You heard me. Get off him.'  
  
'I don't see why I should.' Pegasus drawled, wrapping his arms around Ryou's waist. 'You obviously don't care about him, so I think I'll give him the attention he deserves. These words and actions caused Ryou to give a little sqeak.  
  
'A...attention I deserve?' this made Pegasus smirk as he smelt Ryou's hair deeply.  
  
'But of course. Trusting you in Bakura's care would be like giving a crystal vase to an ape.' The silver haired man shot another triumphant smirk at his glowering employee. 'And anyway,' he continued. 'I always take good care of my crystal.' Again Bakura snapped, this time more violently. He strode over to where Pegasus was sitting, forcefully wrenching Ryou off his lap as he whipped a long, curved blade out from his back jacket pocket. Positioning his foot on one of Pegasus' legs for support he thrust the blade just under the still smirking man's neck. Leaning in, Bakura lowered his voice to a deadly whisper.  
  
'Don't you -ever- even -think- about my Ryou that way again, you pedophilic freak show.' He growled, pressing down the dagger slightly and drawing a thin line of liquid red from the pale neck. Pegasus didn't even look concerned, merely smirking up at his aggressor.  
  
'Of course not, Bakura.' The silver haired man gently moved the dagger from it's lethal position Glancing at the shocked Ryou who was still sprawled on the ground, Pegasus lowered his voice to a conspiring whisper.  
  
'But I suggest you take better care of your things or they may just shatter.' Bakura growled again, an angry rumble in the back of his thought but letting the man go none the less. He positioned himself protectively in front of -his- Ryou.  
  
'Just stay away from him, or next time it won't just be a scratch I give you.' He sneered, his dagger disappearing to where it came from. Shooting one last glare at Pegasus, only to be smiled back at, he hauled Ryou none to gently to his feet and dragged the younger man from the room. Pegasus just chuckled, refilling his wine glass.  
  
'Well that was fun.'  
  
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A.N: Well wasn't that fun! Not quite sure what I think of this chapter, not much happened. Well, as always, feed back is appreciated as are ideas. Little ideas I can just slip in here and there are loved! They make the story have little bits of humor! Ja now! 


	7. Chapter seven

Disclaimer: If you haven't got the idea by now I'd be –really- starting to wonder if you've bothered reading it before. But never mind. I do not own, therefore do not sue. If sued, suer will only gain possession of my collection of paperclips and dust mites. You have been warned. Just for good measure, I don't own 'Under my skin' by Mudvayne either.  
  
Pairings: Seto/Jou, Bakura/Ryou, Yami/Yugi, Marik/Malik, one sided Mokoba/Ryou  
  
A.N: *is once again feeling incredibly bad about herself* Yes, it's been..........oh, three months? Now that's bad of me, I apologise sincerely. I'm trying to get the story re-revolving around Seto and Jou now, I became a little sidetracked with my Bakura/Ryou.........but can you –really- blame me?  
  
For anyone who's interested I'm thinking of starting up a Bakura/Ryou side story, just for them. If anyone wants to see something in particular in that, or especially wants me to write it let me know. Nice, happy comments give me happy, warm fuzzes in my stomach.  
  
Thank you to: Jadej.j, Lady Phoenix Slytherin, Celeste1, Cat in the web. Oh! And Dei-chan of course.  
  
Katri: Thanks for betaing my story! *glomphuggle* She's a good sister...at times.  
  
ColeyCarissa: Bakky? Possessive? Now that would be an understatement! ^^  
  
Ladyschumon: Ah Jamma-chan. Ya know I love you! You just weren't around at the time and I wanted it up that night! And I wasn't about to get my –parents- to beta read this! O.O  
  
Alostblackcat: Wow, that's around three reviews you've given me.........I LOVE YOU!!! *glompsnuggle* I'm glad you liked my Bakkky/Ryou antics.  
  
Ranma Higurashi: Another multiple reviewer! *glomps you also* You rock!  
  
Misuandpup: Love your new name! And I love you for the multiple reviews! And don't even think about eating my killer chickens, they're needed for Seto/Jou action. .........Okay, so they're not.  
  
Syreth_Kahn: Aw, you make me blush! ^^   
  
Okay, now having wasted almost a page on that, let's get on with the story shall we?  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
'Speech'  
  
"thoughts"  
  
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If there's one thing I hate, it's not knowing what's going on. Most people say I'm not the brightest crayon in the box. In a way they're right. I do have a nasty habit of not thinking before I act, same thing applies to me shooting off my mouth, but besides that, I –do- have a brain. Don't die of shock, please. I'm as capable of thought as the next guy. Unfortunately Kaiba seems to think otherwise. How do I know you ask? Simple. It's the way he occasionally pauses during conversation - the little we have - and just stares. And I mean full blown, wide eyed stares. Then he goes back to his good old stick-up-the-ass ways, usually a thousand times worse too. Annoying as hell, especially when the conversation seems to be going somewhere. But dogs can't have conversations, can they Kaiba?  
  
Only a dog.  
  
Why do I have the longing to be more?  
  
~Jou  
  
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There were exactly seventy six cracks in the ceiling. How did he know? He'd counted, twice in fact. Mokoba closed his deep blue eyes, sighing in frustration. He was slept out, the amount of pent up energy he had was almost painful and the worst part of it was that the small room he was confined to was only a few meters wide at most.  
  
'Could've at least given me a mattress.' He grumbled, rolling over lazily onto his side. The pattern-less lino was as hard and cold as cement beneath him, causing his back muscles to cramp up uncomfortably. Unlike Ryou, Mokoba had not been given the luxury of a bed and therefore was using his jacket as a makeshift pillow. Not the greatest thing, the zippers had a tendency to dig into the back of his head, but it would do. The lack of comforts was the last thing on his mind.  
  
Mokoba was well aware that Ryou was supposed to be his bodyguard, if there was to be any escape planned it should come from the older man, but Mokoba had a dark feeling that the white haired man was completely lost in this situation and, more so, with who was controlling it. That person? Bakura. Yes, Mokoba knew him and all too well. Last time the blue eyed boy had seen him was when his brother had had the grey haired man forcefully removed from the Kaiba's property. The reason? Bakura, who had been employed as head of security at the time, was doing a brilliant job of embezzling thousands of dollars from the company. To Mokoba's knowledge, the man should have been rotting in a prison cell for another five years.  
  
Thinking of Bakura brought a frown to the young boy's face. It was obvious Ryou knew the man and, from the way Bakura had been looking at Ryou, Mokoba was sure it hadn't been a pleasant experience for the delicate albino.  
  
'He was sizing Ryou up as if he were a slab of meat.' The black haired boy muttered, glaring at the metal door as if it held the answer to all of his problems. He jerked back with a start as the door almost hit him in the face, opening inwards to reveal a grinning, raven haired man. Otogi, the man who seemed to have the lucky job of babysitting him, always reminded Mokoba of the Cheshire cat for some reason. He half expected the green eyed man to disappear and leave only a smile at any given moment.  
  
'Grub's up kid.' Otogi set the plate he was carrying down on the floor before joining the prisoner on the floor, pulling a pack of well used playing cards out and shuffling them as the boy ate. Not for the first time did Mokoba wonder if the man really had nothing better to do then play cards with Pegasus' kid prisoner. He voiced this thought casually, pushing his empty plate away.  
  
'Actually I don't, come to think of it.' The green eyed man replied, his chuckles causing his shoulder length ponytail to swing back and forth. 'All I really have to do all day is run errands for the horse-man and look after you, but the pay is good so what does it matter?'  
  
'Horse-man?'  
  
'Pegasus.' Otogi's trademark grin re-appeared. 'Bakura came up with it and it's kinda stuck with the employees here. Not that we'd ever say it to his face of course.' Mokoba's face had darkened at the mention of the grey haired man and of course, Otogi noticed this. Otogi had a nasty habit of noticing everything.  
  
'Don't like Bakura, eh?' The raven haired man stretched out languidly, resembling a cat as he let out a small yawn. 'Can't blame you, but he really isn't too bad if you get past his asshole act.'  
  
'Ryou doesn't like him.'  
  
'Oh?' Otogi didn't seem to take his remark seriously. 'I think he does. Scared shit of him, yes, but that's not the point. And Bakura actually does care for him...in a strange, sadistic manner.' He chuckled again at Mokoba's doubting look.  
  
'He may get a little roughed up, but it'll be fine in the end.' The green eyed man added, dealing the cards for a game of cheat. 'Now, how's this little escape plan of yours going?' Glad for the change in subject, Mokoba picked up his card and laid down a card, face down.  
  
'Well, first of all-'  
  
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Muffling a yawn against the palm of his hand, Jou hurried, bleary eyed, after his employer and two spiky haired companions. He'd been forcefully dragged from the comforts of his room by Yami soon after he'd awoken, so here he was following the trio and being filled in by Yugi.  
  
'If if you've got the plan done then why the hell have you dragged me out for at this godforsaken hour of the morning?' he grumbled, trying to bring some semblance of sanity to his mop of hair. 'I'm still in my frickin' PJs for crying out loud!'  
  
'Shhh, Jou.' Yugi had fallen back to join his disgruntled friend. 'Yami and Kaiba-san are a little stressed right now, so try not to annoy them, okay?'  
  
'I don't like it.' Jou gave up on his hair; he couldn't do anything without a comb.  
  
'What, the plan or walking about in your PJs?'  
  
'Both. Who knows what Pegasus could try to pull? The guy's not particularly sane you know.'  
  
'It's not our decision Jou.'  
  
'I know Yug', and that's what pisses me off.' The group had halted outside one of the many doors along the hallway, different only by the heavy duty lock keeping it shut. Seto turned to his companions.  
  
'I'm only showing you this out of necessity.' The brunette muttered. 'Don't expect to see anything else.  
  
'It's merely so we'll know what we're looking for, Kaiba-san' began Yami, only to be cut off by a certain blonde.  
  
'Don't cha worry Kaib', we couldn't give a damn about the rest of your stuff, as long as they don't try to maim us or anything.'  
  
'Jou!' Yugi gave him a light slap on the arm.  
  
'What?'  
  
'Oh never mind.'  
  
Seto rolled his eyes at Jou's comment, not rising to the blonde's taunt and instead busied himself with unlocking the door, punching the keypad password in with practiced ease. Ushering everyone in before closing the door, Seto stalked over to the closed laptop on the dusty desk, flipping it open and hitting the boot button while the three guards made themselves comfortable.  
  
'It's a fast machine.' Yami commented idly, clearly impressed. Seto flashed him a withering look.  
  
'Unlike most people, I don't have time to waste in waiting for a machine to load.' The brunette waited for the stinging comment he assumed would come from the blond at this point, and was surprised when none came. He kept his expression neutral and cast a casual glance over to the honey eyed man. Contrary to his usual hyperactive stance, Jou was slumped against the wall furthest from the laptop, eyes squeezed shut in a faint grimace of pain. Seto shot an inquiring look at Yami, who gave a confused shrug in reply, before frowning slightly.  
  
'Katsuya?' the blonde cracked open an eye, he was listening. Seto raised a questioning brow in barely concealed concern. 'You okay?'  
  
'Yeah, just fine Kaib'.' Jou waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. 'Just speed this up will ya?' Seto nodded.  
  
'The program is very distinctive.' He explained, hitting a few keys and moving the cursor over to a shortcut on the desktop. 'You'll be able to recognise if a machine is infected by it either displaying the shutdown message continuously or by this shortcut on the main screen. At the moment, the only way to destroy the virus is by removing the infected drive.' Yugi had a look of complete confusion on his face.  
  
'If you know how, then why –'  
  
'Haven't I done it?' Seto watched as the loading hourglass appeared on screen. 'Simple, I can't figure out what's infected. Normally, I would just destroy the entire machine-.' he trailed off. There were irreplaceable files on the hardrive of this machine; he'd only destroy those as a last resort. The hourglass finally disappeared to be replaced with a blue screen, blank save for two words in the centre.  
  
'Hello Seto.' Seto grit his teeth, hitting the enter key to skip to the main page. He was about to explain the basics of the program when a dull thud interrupted him. Jou had fallen to his knees, the grimace becoming a full fledged mask of pain as he pressed his hands to his ears in an apparently vain attempt to keep some noise out that they others couldn't hear.  
  
'Katsuya?' his own startled expression was mirrored by Jou's two companions. Seeing the blonde give a sudden lurch, Seto was suddenly on his knees beside him, holding him up as the younger man emitted a soft whine. Inspiration suddenly hit the young CEO like a bag of wet cement.  
  
'Yami!' both he and the tri haired man were startled by the urgency in his voice. 'Pull the plug!'  
  
'Pardon?'  
  
'Just yank the goddamned plug from the machine!' Yami acted this time, yanking the black cord from the back of the machine. The light emitted from the screen flickered a moment before dying off completely, leaving the four in semi darkness. Jou's eyes opened slowly and he haltingly removed his hands from his ears.  
  
'Erm...' he shot and apologetic look at Seto, who was still kneeling beside him, and was grateful the dim light hid his blush. 'Sorry?' The brunette gave him a blank look.  
  
'What on earth was that?' his question was overruled, however, by a blurry of tri-coloured boy leaching its self onto the subject.  
  
'Jou! Are you okay? What happened? Do you need anything? Do you-'  
  
'Yug', Yug', calm down already!' The honey eyed man laughed, ruffling his friend's ever spiky hair. 'It was just...' he glanced at Yami and Seto, biting his lip slightly. 'Just a once off thing, reckon I might be getting a headache or something.' The lie was as good as transparent, Seto could see Yami had seen it too, but Yugi, almost stupidly, lapped it straight up.  
  
'Oh, thank goodness.' He sighed, giving Jou another quick squeeze. 'Maybe you should go take a lie down, that is, if Kaiba-san isn't going anywhere.' Seto shook his head in a negative. He was working at home today, not that he'd get much done. Worry for Mokoba was still plaguing his mind. And probably would continue to do so until his younger brother was returned at the end of the week. Their plan was foolproof but as Jou had said, who knows what Pegasus would do in the meantime.  
  
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Jou sat moodily in the middle of his bed, knees drawn up and a slight from on his face. He was now fully dressed, faded black jeans and a long sleeved button up shirt his choice for the day. His boots and bomber jacket lay by the door, ready for use. He had a plan, a good one at that, mostly based around the information Malik had sent him that morning, but there was a problem. That problem being that with the amount of security camera's about, he couldn't leave without everyone knowing it. He just needed a good excuse...his honey eyes fell on the half depleted bottle of aspirin on the dresser. Perfect. Donning his jacket and boots he strode into the corridors, hands crammed into his pockets and shoulders slumped. Reaching the kitchen he rooted about until he found a suitable pen and paper, scribbling that he should be back within the hour, before heading out the front door with a spare key. An hour wasn't long, but it was all he could get without raising suspicious. And he hadn't put the time down either, hopefully they wouldn't find it soon. Hopefully.  
  
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'Nailed inside my head, Fuck this I don't need your shit, All the lies deceit and arrogance, Talk your shit like my life is some kinda game'  
  
Yami heard the Ishtars before he saw them. Along with half the neighbourhood it seemed. Whoever let Marik get behind the wheel of the Jeep they were driving had to be absolutely nuts, not surprisingly that person was probably Malik. Not that it would have made any difference which of them drove, the chaos would have been the same.  
  
'Like you fuckin' know me, Just go far away and be small, Run far away and be small, Go lie in a hole and be small!' Malik belted out the last lyrics of the verse at top volume, jumping from the car before Marik had even stopped properly and sauntering over to where Yami, Yugi and Seto were all looking at them, open mouthed. Marik soon joined him, wrapping his arm around his lover's waist and grinning psychotically.  
  
'So, how many did we get, love?' Malik hesitated in replying, apparently doing some mental math.  
  
'Hmm, five squirrels, three cats, a dog, ten school children and two little old ladies.' Marik looked horrified.  
  
'Twenty one? You're joking, I swear I counted six squirrels, three cats, two dogs, a dozen school children and four little old ladies!' Malik bit Marik's shoulder, drawing blood.  
  
'You're delusional!'  
  
'I'll show you delusional!' With that Marik proceeded to throw Malik to the still snow covered ground, straddle him and kiss the living daylights out of him. The trio on the stairs looked on in astonishment. Yami was the first to recover.  
  
'As much as I hate to break the momentary peace there always is when you two are making out, I think we have slightly more important things to do.'  
  
Marik broke off the kiss and, leaving a thoroughly winded Malik beneath him, looked up at Yami, eyes full of false innocence.  
  
'Something more important then sex?' he blinked uncomprehending. Yami sighed in annoyance.  
  
'Yes, as new as the concept may be to you.'  
  
'Oh!' Marik stood, hauling Malik to his feet in the process. He turned to a shocked Seto, smiling in an almost sane manner. 'We're done!' He stuck out a scar covered hand towards the CEO. 'Marik and Malik Ishtar. We may not be sane but if you need something done, we can do it!' Seto shook his hand gingerly.  
  
'Nice to meet you.' He wiped his hand quickly on his trench coat. 'I presume you're the backup Yami was telling me about.' He shot a dark look at Yami. 'I also presume you know the plan?'  
  
'That we do!' Malik had obviously recovered from the kiss now and was as bouncy as ever. 'Though I can imagine Jou's having a fit about waiting that long. Where is the guy anyway?'  
  
'Gone to get some aspirin.' Attention turned to Yugi at the moment, how was still standing by the door. Seto blinked.  
  
'He has?' his ocean blue eyes narrowed slightly. 'He didn't tell me.'  
  
'Oh, he left a note.' Yugi continued brightly, holding out a scrap of paper. 'Said he'd be back within the hour.'  
  
Seto noticed a look passed between the Ishtars, immediately becoming suspicious. 'When did you pick this up, Yugi.' Yugi seemed to give it some thought.  
  
'Oh, about two...' his eyes widened in recognition. 'Two hours ago.'  
  
There was a snort from Marik.  
  
'No prizes for guessing where he's off to then.' He looked up to see three sets of eyes on him. 'What? He didn't tell you?'  
  
'He said he was going for aspirin.' Seto growled out, irritation obvious in his voice. These two psychotic lunatics had annoyed him from the start, and this constant babbling in riddles certainly wasn't improving his mood in the least.  
  
Marik rolled his eyes. 'Obviously not then. Malik and I sent him some data this morning.' Malik nodded his head in agreement. 'It was all about where Pegasus' den's are located...'  
  
Yami's eyes widened in shock.  
  
'He's gone to get information by himself again.' The CEO looked at him curiously.  
  
'He does this often?  
  
Yami nodded wearily, running a hand through one of his spikes. 'Far too often. Happened on our last mission too, he almost got himself injured for that effort.' 'But what he found out really did help!' Yugi, always quick to the blonde's defense, quickly put in.  
  
'That's not the point, Yugi.'  
  
'...injured?' Seto's question was quite, but still forceful enough to be heard over the two. Yami nodded.  
  
'A guy pulled a knife on him; luckily he managed to get out with only a few scratches.' Seto hadn't seemed to have heard him; his eyes had a faraway look to them as if he were deep in thought.  
  
'Hmm.'  
  
Watching the brunet walk away without another word, Malik shot a sly look at Yami. 'I take it he likes our little Joujou, by his reaction.' The older Motou rolled his eyes at him.  
  
'Go figure. We know it, you know it but that guy has too much of his ego shoved up his ass to admit it.'  
  
Marik gave a grin. 'Dosen't matter, not if he's the one on top!' the platinum blond gave a laugh of glee as a Yami sized, black leather boot was hurled in his direction.  
  
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A hand rested against the tall pillar that stood next to the vast gates of the Kaiba's mansion, its owner leaning heavily on the cool, grey stone for support. Tiredness gnawed at every particle of his body like acid, and the driveway looked so horribly long...No. He shook his head, wincing at the almost familiar headache that was beginning to form again. He wouldn't give up, that wasn't his style. Even if he was dead tired...  
  
He began the seemingly endless trek down the icy path, stumbling often and not even bothering to avoid the low hanging branches that were covered in white, powdery snow. He'd lost his jacket somewhere along the way, had he even brought it? He didn't remember, his entire head seemed to be buzzing and blurring. Just a little further.  
  
Finally reaching the massive oak doors that seemed there only to shut the world out, the boy lent with his hands on his knees, breathing heavily. His side was screaming at him now, though the icy wind was numbing it a little. As well as his nose, his toes, his ears, his-. The door opened suddenly, revealing a pair of clean, polished black shoes. Who the owner of the shoes was, Jou didn't know. He'd blacked out cold, face down on the doormat.  
  
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Bum dum! A cliffhanger! Okay, not really, but close enough to not have people kill me? I don't know, I'm just confusing myself now. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy and again I apologize for the long wait. I love you all! 


	8. The real chapter 8

Disclaimer: Am not owning rights to Yu-Gi-Oh. Will not be owning it anytime in the future. Enough said.  
  
Warnings: Yaoi (male/male relationship), cussing, possible lime in later chapters  
  
Pairings: Seto/Jou, Bakura/Ryou, Yami/Yugi, Marik/Malik, one sided Mokoba/Ryou  
  
A.N: Wow, and update after so long. O.o Amazing! Just warning the lot of you now, update may be slow coming, hopefully not as slow as for this one, but still slow. Just letting you know. Also, as I haven't updated for...ooh...many months let's just say, my writing style's changed a little. So I hope you enjoy the update, and that my new style doesn't confuse you too much.  
  
Okay, here are the thank you notes for both chap 7 & 8. To all my reviews, I love you! You've brought my tally up to 61. Hooray!  
  
Thank you to: Jay-chan, Velvetina, Macduff's Mistress, ColeyCarissa, Kumori Sakusha, Lead Tears, Tamer, DaughterofDeath  
  
Angelsoul03: laughs Yes, a long time no update. And even longer for the eighth chapter! As for what Jou discovered, well, you've found that out now, ne?  
  
Sereg'wethrin: Gods –above- Ami! Could your name be any more difficult to spell? . As for making this into a book...well, the writing quality ain't –that- high! . But the story, yes, I could.  
  
JitsaruJakara: Well, I don't know if my updating would save the world. . The world may pass out from shock because I actually got around to it though! And I'm glad you like it.  
  
Animestargirl: Thanks for the ideas! As you saw above, I did have a –little- of that in mind. However, Jou is...well...Jou. Seto being nice to him is –not- going to make him turn to putty in his hands or anything, that just isn't his way. But you'll be seeing a little something more between them soon. As for fluff between Bakky-chan and Ryou, well, you certainly got that!   
  
Jounouchi Katsuya: Hey...I didn't know the characters read my stories! O.o Glad you like it though! No lemons anytime soon...I don't actually know if I can write them. As I say in the warnings though, possible lime sometime soon.  
  
Eternallove91: Thank you for the idea, but I don't think I could stomach writing Peggy/Jou. Interesting idea though, I hadn't thought of it. But I think what I have in mind to happen is reasonably interesting too...well, I hope it is!   
  
TsuyaKK: As I said to Eternallove91, no Peggy/Jou in this story. As for Peggy experimenting with Jou, well, I think the poor boy has enough problems with his headaches!  
  
Fanfan: Thanks for all the help! The ideas are good...I hadn't really thought much about –why- Jou has the headaches, but I'll talk to you more via e- mail. nods And don't worry, this is –very- much a Seto/Jou fic, with a good dose of Bakura/Ryou on the side.  
  
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'Speech' and "thoughts" will no longer be identified in this way. "Speech" will have the double quotation marks, and thoughts will be written in a different way completely.  
  
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Pride. One of the seven deadly sins and one I suffer from acutely. I'll never admit it, but this whole problem is entirely my fault. I made the program therefore the blame is to be put on me. The strange thing is no one does. Everyone seems to be genuinely trying to help, even that blonde loudmouth.  
  
Jou... He's still out cold. The shot to his side isn't particularly lethal but the doctor said he still lost a lot of blood. From the looks of things, he had to walk a fair distance with that wound, after gouging the bullet from his arm himself.  
  
Silly puppy. You'd better wake up soon. Then whoever did this to you will pay.  
  
Dearly.  
  
- Seto  
  
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The small cell was dark, dimly lit only by the light that crept in from a barred window high above the bed. The bed itself was empty, as the soul occupant of the room had not had the strength to crawl to it earlier that night. He lay where he'd been thrown; face down on the cold, hard lino near the door. His once flawless features were now marred by angry bruises and stained with tears, though his expression was one of calm acceptance, of an angel thrown into the unforgiving realms of hell.  
  
The door opened, hitting the frail figure in the stomach as it swung inwards. He didn't wake, however, just simply groaned and rolled onto his less injured side. Bakura stood in the open door-frame looking down at the injured albino that lay before him.  
  
He was a stubborn man by nature, a ruthless, cold blooded mercenary by trade. Killing, lying, cheating; all came to him like a second nature and without guilt. If this was the case, which he knew it was, then why, oh why, was he out here in the middle of the night, making sure Ryou was still breathing?  
  
He felt guilty.  
  
For the first time in however-many years he actually felt guilty for causing someone pain. Why? He wasn't quite sure himself. He'd beaten Ryou to a far worse degree in the past, though on those occasions it had been the boy's fault. Perhaps that was it. The beating tonight had been provoked, not by Ryou, but by one Mr. Pegasus. Bakura's eyes narrowed at the mere thought of the man. It wasn't normal for Pegasus to play with captives, even if they were as pretty as Ryou. He usually stuck to his harem of boys.  
  
Almost unconsciously, the grey haired man hoisted Ryou from the ground, placing him gently on the bed. Ryou groaned slightly at the sudden movement, causing Bakura to wince a little before he caught himself. Wincing? Over Ryou? Unheard of-he really must be going soft. Despite his internal berating, he quickly opened the small first aid kit he had brought with him and unpacked an array of bandages and antiseptic before turning back to his unknowing patient, biting his lip in thought. Most of Ryou's injuries would be around the torso area...meaning somehow Bakura had to remove the shirt, bandage the boy and –not- rape him in the process.  
  
Bakura sat himself gently on the bed, slipping his upper-arm under the small of the albino's back to coax him into a sitting position. The unconscious man made no sound at the change in position, his head lolling limply forward to his chest to rise and fall with steady breaths. This, Bakura decided, was a good sign and he quickly slipped off the thin rag of a shirt that Ryou wore, tossing it away with a look of disgust. No matter what he did, he never had been able to get Ryou to wear anything but jeans and light-colored, cotton shirts. Well, he thought with a quick smirk, if the boy wanted a top at all he would just have to wear what Bakura gave him. None of which would involve cotton, if the grey-haired man had his way.  
  
Seeing as Ryou was showing no signs of waking, Bakura quickly completed his task with little difficulty. Tying off the last bandage around the boy's slim waist, Bakura let his hands linger on the smooth flesh that was riddled with a haphazard pattern of darkening bruises. It always amazed the grey-haired man that Ryou's skin could remain so pristine even after taking a mammoth beating and, with the boy unconscious, he lapped up the sight of his shirtless captive greedily. Unfortunately, while distracted by the eye- candy feast laid before him, he failed to notice Ryou stir.  
  
"Bakura?" Ryou's soft voice shattered the silence of the room, the sound startling his medic. The albino's eyes were still heavy with slumber, his voice betraying the fact that he was not completely awake. "Bakura?" he repeated, sounding a little lost. Bakura bit back panic and a harsh reply.  
  
"I'm here." He replied gently, softening his usually sharp tone. Lord knows, the boy had been through enough already without having his head snapped off. And no, he was –not- going soft.  
  
Ryou seemed to relax a little in his captor's arms, his fingers curling around a loose fold in Bakura's jacket.  
  
"Why...why do you hate me?"  
  
Oh gods, was Bakura's first thought. Ryou truly believed he hated him? He looked down at the boys in his arms, tightening his grip a little. What he did...it was habit. All a habit that he couldn't control. How could he get Ryou to see that?  
  
"I don't hate you." He pulled his precious burden closer to his chest, rocking in what he hoped was a soothing manner and reveling in the fact that his gesture was returned by a slim pair of arms wrapping themselves around his torso. "If you believe anything I tell you, believe that. I'll never hate you."  
  
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Cold blue eyes darted over the yellowing pages of the book in his lap, barely taking in the words before the page was turned. Seto lay the book down on the dresser beside him, pulling off a thin-framed pair of reading glasses and rubbing his eyes. Continuing to read would be pointless, he'd been flipping through that book for a good hour without getting anywhere and there had to be a more useful task to take up his time. Unfortunately, he couldn't think of one. Growling softly in frustration, Seto glanced over to the prone figure lying unconscious a mere two meters away and sighed heavily. It had been a full twenty-four hours since Jou had passed out on his doorstep and since that time the blond hadn't even turned over in his sleep. The doctor said this was normal, that Jou's body was just repairing itself, but the man's silence made Seto uneasy. Silence just didn't suit the blond.  
  
Knowing his attention was now firmly out of his control, Seto allowed himself to rise and walk slowly over to Jou's bedside. Asleep, and with his mouth firmly shut, the blonde was quite pleasing to the eye. Granted, when he was awake and fighting he was just as attractive, however Seto wasn't about to let the chance to study Jou properly slip through his fingers.  
  
The loud-mouthed guard's expression was relaxed in slumber, messy blond bangs splayed across his face and the pillow beneath his head like finely spun gold. Reaching forward slowly, the brunette softly moved a few bangs away from Jou's face with a finger. The movement prompted the blonde in question to scrunch up his nose, mumbling something about candy-floss before blearily opening his eyes. He blinked a few times taking in his surroundings before looking at Seto, who had put a safe distance between himself and the bed as soon as Jou showed signs of waking. Seeing as the other man was confused, Seto decided to break the silence.  
  
"Welcome back to the land of the living, pup." Jou just shot him a withering look.  
  
"Can-it, would you?" The phrase had barely left the blonde's mouth before he shot up into a sitting position, wincing as he pulled at the wound in his side. "Gods damn! How long have I been out?"  
  
"A day." Seto replied earlier. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like an explanation."  
  
Jou, however, wasn't listening.  
  
"A day? Aw crap, that's too long! No time to prepare..." he left his babblings for a moment to glare at his employer. "Well, just don't stand there! Go get Yami, would you? We've gotta get out of here-" He didn't get a chance to continue as Seto cut him off by slamming a fist into the dresser before confronting him.  
  
"I didn't think you hit your head in that fall, but obviously you must have." The brunette seethed, blue eyes darkening in rage. "I sit here for hours keeping check on you and when I ask you a simple question you ignore me and try to usurp my authority!"  
  
This little outburst seemed to have little effect on Jou other then annoying him. "Well, -excuse- me Kaiba, I don't call going out and risking my neck for you usurping your authority! Now, if you don't mind," Jou gingerly swung his legs over the side of the bed, steadying himself against the wall. "I have some important information to give Yami."  
  
This blatant lack of respect from the blonde angered Seto even further and he lashed out, completely forgetting Jou's condition. Grabbing Jou's shoulders roughly he slammed the blonde against the wall, ignoring the groan of pain emitted from the other man.  
  
"I'm completely fed up with you!" he snarled, spittle flying onto Jou's face. "You haven't done one useful thing while you'd been here and I'm sick of it! To make things worse, you go out without permission, have yourself shot and then continue on as if nothing's happened! And to think I was actually worried about you!"  
  
"Kaiba." Jou's reply was strangled. "Can't...breathe...."  
  
Seto eyes widened at the sight of Jou's pained face and he swore softly, letting go of the blonde and sinking to the floor with him. Jou shuddered a little, clutching his side with a small wince and Kaiba felt a wave of nausea hit him as he noticed a dark red patch soaking it's way through the other man's shirt. Not trusting himself to speak, he gently slipped an arm around Jou, lifting him back onto the bed before tugging off the ruined shirt and holding it to the wound. Jou made no complaints at the brunette's actions and let Seto do what he wanted. Feeling the tense silence envelop them, the brunette decided, once more, to break it.  
  
"I...I'm sorry." Seto bit his lip, he wasn't used to apologizing. "I let my frustrations out on you, about Mokoba...the company. It wasn't fair of me."  
  
Jou smiled a little. "Never thought I'd hear you, of all people, apologizing." He took the shirt, ripping it into strips to make a pad and makeshift bandages. "But-" he continued, "Apology accepted. Now, do you want to hear the news or not?"  
  
Seto raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were going to tell Yami?"  
  
"I was. On second thoughts though, I think you'd better know first." Jou bit his lip before looking straight into Seto's eyes. "They'll be coming here, tomorrow at the latest."  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Pegasus' men, you dolt!" Jou rolled his eyes, "Sheesh, I thought you were meant to be the smart one! But yes, good ol' Peggy seems to have gotten sick of waiting and is sending a mob here to take the program by force and personally, I don't wanna be here when they arrive."  
  
Seto shook his head in disbelief. "That's plain madness!" he exclaimed, his brows furrowed. "Pegasus knows this place is guarded like a fort, there's no way he could get in."  
  
"Apparently he can." Jou replied soberly. "That man's no fool; he won't try something that won't work." At this comment, Seto rose from the bed and began pacing the room.  
  
"We can't stay here." He said finally, looking out the window with a frown. "If what you say is true, then leaving the program here would do as much good as simply handing it over." Jou nodded absentmindedly while Seto continued. "I won't have it. Tell Yami to have your group armed and ready to go by sunset, I'll give more instructions then." Jou was about to comply when Seto quickly pushed the blonde back onto the bed.  
  
"Forget that idea; you're not going anywhere." Glancing at Jou's puzzled expression; Seto flashed him a half-smile. "I'll go tell Yami myself. You, pup, are to get some rest. I'll come and get you when it's time to go." Seeing that the blonde was about to argue, he smirked before cutting him off. "That's an –order- Jou. You're not to leave this room."  
  
He chuckled as Jou did a very good imitation of a goldfish, turning to leave the room before the other man got over his shock.  
  
"Kaiba! Wait!"  
  
Seto glanced back from the door, raising an eyebrow. "Yes?"  
  
Jou shifted, uncomfortable under Kaiba's scrutiny. "Your brother," he finally got out. "He's okay."  
  
Seto's eyes widened. "How do you know this?"  
  
Jou just shrugged, smiling a little.  
  
"Let's just say, I have a contact."  
  
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Otogi walked briskly down the sterile corridors, squinting a little as the fluorescent lights above reflected harshly off the stark walls. He'd left his cards with Mokoba this time as the poor kid was bored enough to learn his times tables by heart. At least the kid could play solitaire now. He stepped into the open elevator, hitting a button before leaning against the metal wall and running a hand through ebony locks. If things went to plan both he and the kid wouldn't have to stay here much longer, a welcome break for both of them.  
  
Otogi had finally been able to get in contact with Jou the day before, to his relief. He'd known the group was in the country, but he'd had to contact Malik to actually get a hold of Jou. The only problem now was that Jou had been seen. Otogi himself was in no danger at the moment, he'd managed to stay out of sight. Jou, he knew, hadn't been so lucky. Well, there was nothing he could do now but follow the plan. If Jou was injured, Malik would do his part. Of course, if they were caught...well, Otogi didn't want to consider that option.  
  
A small cell phone at his waist suddenly went off, startling Otogi out of his internal musing. He cursed softly as he realized the lift had gone right past his stop, and hit another button before answering the shrieking device.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Otogi-dear!" Pegasus' cooing voice made Otogi cringe. He gulped, putting on his most complying voice.  
  
"Yes Mr. Pegasus? Can I help you?" he cringed again, this time at his own simpering tone.  
  
"Just the question I was waiting for!" As usual, Pegasus sounded far too happy about everything. "I seem to have run out of champagne, would you be a dear and fetch some more from the cellars?" Otogi covered the mouthpiece of the small phone before heaving a heavy sigh and pressing the cellar button on the elevator.  
  
"I'll be right on it, Mr. Pegasus." He glared at the phone as he hung up. "Stupid horse-man."  
  
Hopefully he'd still be sane by the time they got the kid out.  
  
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A.N: HOORAY!!! CHAPTER 8 IS IN EXISTANCE! Oh hoorah indeed. I hope this is enough to keep you all satisfied for a little while, and I apologize that it's a little shorter then what you're used to getting. But you got your fluff, and the story moved on a –little-. I'll try and make the next chapter more interesting, 'kay? Good! Hopefully it won't take so long next time.... Ja for now! 


	9. Not an update but an Author's note

Okay, this isn't an update for either of my fics, (Warning: this program will now terminate/Persephone). It's a note to, basically, tell you what's happening. There's been a slight...technical difficulty, to put it mildly. Basically, my laptop's overheated and the hard disk may or may not be still intact. On that hard disk are the most recent chapters of both stories. Now, I do have the majority of both backed up (luckily) and the rest written down (of Persephone). Unfortunately, its exam period and I don't have enough time to write them out. Meaning, you most likely won't be getting an update for at least two weeks in either story. Possibly longer in the case of W;t.p.w.n.t. as I've lost about half the chapter.

I apologise for this profusely (trust me, you're not the only one's annoyed) and I'll try to get things back on track as soon as possible. So until further notice, stats are:

**Warning; this program will now terminate**: On hold until after exams (mid November, possibly later)

**Persephone**: Chapter10 coming out as soon as possible, hopefully in the next couple of weeks. Chapter 11 in the works.

**One way Glass**: Started, but not typed out. Will not be put up until Persephone's finished.

Again, I apologise for how annoying this must be and promise that I'll try and have things running again as soon as possible (and after my exams). Oh yes, and remember. NEITHER OF THESE STORIES ARE BEING STOPPED! I will finish both, I just can't guarentee how quickly.

Osiris-Lee


End file.
